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.
The Mother Of Inquiries: Parliamentary CRU ReportThe UK's House of Commons is often called the mother of parliaments. In reality that would be Tynwald, the parliament of the Isle of Man. However: a cross-party commitee, the House of Commons Science and Technology Commitee, has just published its report on the CRU affair. The two pdfs, free to download, come to about 2.7Mb of data.31 March 2010 Eighth Report HC 387-I 387i.pdf and 387ii.pdf
Understanding Climate : #4 - Calculating SunshineThe Fire In The Sky
CO2 Emissions : More Is The New LessAs part of its climate change strategy, the Government set a UK aviation target in January 2009, to reduce UK aviation emissions back to 2005 levels in 2050. Together with deep cuts in other sectors, this would achieve the UK’s legislated economy-wide greenhouse gas (GHG) target to reduce emissions by 80% in 2050 relative to 1990. http://www.theccc.org.uk/sectors/aviationSaturday, 27 March 2010The political arguments about a third runway for London's Heathrow airport broke out again fiercely last night after a High Court judge declined to quash the project but told the Government to get its aviation policy in order.
On Blogging And SoothsayingThe internet is a wonderful means of spreading information, but there is a danger of spreading misinformation. It probably takes far fewer years of education to read a science article than to fully understand it. The danger is that, just as many people rely on their horoscopes, so too do many people rely on their favorite bloggers to do their critical thinking for them.
It's Earth Hour - Let's Black Out Big Time!Earth hour is an event organised by the World Wide Fund for Nature in which participants switch off lights for one hour at night. The objective is to produce an hour of darkness as a means of highlighting the need for global action on climate change.Earth Hour - climate change campaigners urge global switch-offThe fourth annual lights-out event expects 1 billion participants, and counts for the first time international landmarks including the Eiffel Tower, the Empire State building and the Burj Khalifahttp://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/26/energy-climate-change
Nonsense On IceWhat follows is quoted from an article: 'Climate Cools But Arctic Ice Scares Continue'by Dr. Tim Ball Monday, January 18, 2010:My badge of honor is an attack by Phil Jones, disgraced and displaced Director of the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) whose leaked emails showed how they falsified climate science. On May 22, 2009 Jones wrote to Mann, “Our web server has found this piece of garbage - so wrong it is unbelievable that Tim Ball wrote a decent paper in Climate Since AD 1500.http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/19087
Why Cow-Driven Global Warming Is A Load Of BullAll animals breathe in air and then breathe it out again. This astounding fact, seemingly new to some web users, has nothing whatsoever to do with global warming.Some people are still seemingly astonished to find that cows breathe out air deficient in oxygen and with a surfeit of CO2. They eagerly report this brand new finding to a breathless crowd of eager supporters of any 'proof' that humans are not responsible for the inexorable rise in global CO2.
Is there some way we can teach our children that there is no such thing as a free lunch? Perhaps then they will not grow up to think that problems can always be solved - if only we throw enough crazy unscientific ideas at them.The laws of thermodynamics dictate a simple policy of universal application. It is one that policy makers must be forced to understand: mother nature will not permit us to reverse a fossil fuel energy production process without using more energy than the process has itself released.One of the most ludicrous ideas I have ever read about, purportedly coming from scientists, is that we can somehow sequester carbon. Let me give my reasons.
Rock Scissors Paper CustardOk, forget the scissors and paper - this article is about rocks and custard.The Sliding Rocks Of Racetrack PlayaRacetrack Playa is a dry lake bed in Death Valley National Park. It is famous for its sliding rocks. Theories that the rocks have been moved by people or animals have been ruled out. These rocks move according to some as yet unknown natural mechanism.Image source: Wikimedia, Tahoenathan, GNU.The sliding rocks are few in number and are found mainly in the southeast.
NASA IceBridge Mission Prepares for Study of Arctic GlaciersIn a world where the blogosphere is filled with politically motivated versions of what is 'really' happening to the cryosphere it is good to know that real scientists are taking real risks to get real data. I take my hat off to them.NASA IceBridge Mission Prepares for Study of Arctic GlaciersPress release March 18, 2010WASHINGTON -- NASA's Operation IceBridge mission, the largest airborne survey ever flown of Earth's polar ice, kicks off its second year of study when NASA aircraft arrive in Greenland March 22.
Baird : The Wonder Of TelevisionThe following article was scanned by me from "The Wonder Encyclopedia For Children"Odhams, 1933.Apart from minor adjustments to layout and removal of page references it is verbatim.I present it here as a view from the past, when television was a brand new scientific achievement being presented as a new wonder to children and using the latest photographic illustration techniques. John Logie Baird describes broadcast television in his own words.-----------------------------------------THE WONDER OF TELEVISIONElectric Eyes that Scan the World By J. L. BAIRD
A Critique Of A Multiply-Published Article On Ice Sheet CollapseAn article in AIG News, the Australian Institute of Geoscientists Quarterly Newsletter No. 97 August 2009, purports to state that collapse of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets is impossible.In this critique I demonstrate the writers' use of straw man arguments and other unscientific methods to support their arguments.I commence with the authors' abstract and conclusions. The body of the text will be dealt with in due course.Why the Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets are Not Collapsing.Cliff Ollier and Colin PainAbstract:
