Nuke him from orbit . . .ÂÂ
Every day, scientists hoping to see an increase in solar activity train their instruments at the sun as it crosses the sky. This is no idle academic pursuit: A lull in solar action could potentially drive the planet’s temperature down, or even prompt a mini Ice Age.
For millennia, thermonuclear forces inside the star have followed a regular rhythm, causing its magnetic field to peak and ebb, on average, every 11 years. Space weathermen are watching for telltale increases in sunspots, which would signal the start of a new cycle, predicted to have started last March and expected to peak in 2012. “When the sun’s active, it’s a little bit brighter,†explains Ken Tapping, a solar researcher and project director for Canada’s National Research Council.
So far, Tapping reports no change in the magnetic field strength, as measured by radio telescopes. On the more positive side, last month NASA reported a small, earth-sized sunspot with a magnetic field pointing in the opposite direction from those in the previous cycle; qualities that designate the spot as a signal of a new upturn in activity. At the solar maximum, scientists expect to see between 75 and 150 such sunspots per day.
Tapping oversees the operation of a 60-year-old radio telescope that he calls a “stethoscope for the sun.†Recent magnetic field readings are as low as he’s ever seen, he says, and he’s worked with the instrument for more than 25 years. If the sun remains this quiet for another a year or two, it may indicate the star has entered a downturn that, if history is any precedent, could trigger a planetary cold spell that could bring massive snowfall and severe weather to the Northern Hemisphere.
The last such solar funk corresponded with a period of bitter cold that began around 1650 and lasted, with intermittent spikes of warming, until 1715. While there were competing causes for the climatic shiftâ€â€including the Black Death’s depopulation of tree-cutting Europeans and, more substantially, increased volcanic activity spewing ash into the atmosphereâ€â€the sun’s lethargy likely had something to do with it.
Also:
Why do today’s men run from commitment  indefinitely delaying settling down in a marriage they take seriously, and having kids? Dr. Helen Smith asks whether they are indeed pampered eternal adolescents more interested in exploding toilets and video games than real life, or if they are simply making a logical choice when “the reward for being an adult in our society is so low, especially for men.â€Â
Well, all I know is, we got snowed on twice here in Georgia last month, and that hasn’t happened in, like, forever. Or in the last year or two anyway which is the same thing, right?
</usual layman’s AGW babble turned on its head>
the Black Death’s depopulation of tree-cutting Europeans would have only meant the trees grew into a nice bit of kindling I would think. Only tree-cutting Europeans could prevent forest fires back then. I know that sounds like a small thing but the idea that the Black Death was some kind of climatological event really obscures the timescale climate change operates on.
The most famous ski resort in my state (and one of the most recognizable in the country) has had the greatest snowfall in 35 years. Any guesses as to what they are attributing this to in the local press?
Romney pulls out and heads to the john and then into the shower to wash the stink off.
http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN0628041520080207
uh oh
okay so between the coming mini ice age caused by the sun taking a coffee break and the Romney announcement NOW is it time to run in circles and shout, “We’re Doomed, We’re All Doomed”
According to NASA, we’ve just started a new solar cycle (every 11 years, give or take some months), so solar activity should be on the upswing for the next 6 1/2 years.
It’s a universal human brain-failure (probably a necessary one). Even scientists, with the numbers right in front of them, resist understanding or accounting for the hugeness, in time and size, of the not-us life of the planet, let alone the solar system. The entirety of human activity over all its past and future history, as energetic activity, is a zero in comparison to any fraction of a second in the life of the Sun. It, along with other astronomical events, decides what Earth, on the scale of “climate,” is like. We can’t do shit about it. No one wants to know that. So they make up fairy stories, starring themselves.
How can anyone think the main heater of the planet has anything to do with the climate and global temperature!? THE CLIMATE FALLS UNDER TOTAL HUMAN CONTROL AND WE ARE OUT OF CONTROL. (imaging my monitor covered in spit.)
Well I’m going to stop making ice cubes.
And daquiri’s.
That’s right, goobers, I’ll be drinking my cocktails straight up FOR THE PLANET!!!
The entirety of human activity over all its past and future history, as energetic activity, is a zero in comparison to any fraction of a second in the life of the Sun.
Party pooper.
Mini ice age? That’s an inconvenient truth.
One sunspot? We can draw a trendline through that, no problem.
John F’en Kerry claims global warming is responsible for the hurricanes this week.
Now calm down, I know this is a blow for all you GW skeptics out there, but it’s possible Kerry could be wrong.
According to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration study, mentioned here, The NOAA researchers compared sea surface temperatures with hurricanes that made U.S. landfall  the most reliable hurricane measurement over the long-term, according to the researchers. They found a slight decrease in the trend of landfalling hurricanes with warmer sea surface temperatures.
The link concludes with this gem:
Can you say “pandering”?
Oops. Perhaps the link is here…
entropy is a bitch.
I get an email on a weekly basis regarding solar activity, through the American Radio Relay League (the NRA for ham radio operators, as it were), as this is of more than passing interest to us hams. This is because being pretty much at the bottom of the solar cycle means long distance communications on the HF bands is pretty dead.
The guy that writes these emails draws on all sorts of sources for his information, NASA, the Air Force, NOAA, as well as a number of overseas sources as well. And no, we are not past the solar minimum just yet. At least, it has not been declared so by everyone who is entitled to an opinion on the subject. The process for determining when the solar minimum has occurred is complex, but basically involves taking a very long average of the number (or lack of) sunspots that have appeared on the solar disk over a period of many months.
Indeed, they can’t really say when the solar minimum has occurred until after it has passed. So no, one lousy sunspot, Earth-sized or otherwise, doesn’t mean squat.
Something else I found interesting was an item heard on the radio the other day. Seems some UK climate researchers have announced that “global warming” appears to have “stalled”. According to their numbers, there has been no increase in global temperature for the past six years…
HALLIBURTON!!!! (for the Narrative, y’know…:)
Where’s a Global Warmist when you need one?
I was going to try out my new line of logic that if there is a Global Temperature you can be warmer or cooler than, and all the climate prediction models work so fucking well that you can use them to tax me based on them; then why can’t you just give the Global Temperature of the day and let weathermen use the models to derive the local temperature and conditions!? Hmmmmm!?
“The Global Temperature is: 50deg F.”
*click* whirr whirr whirr….
“It’s 36deg F and Raining in your area with a chance of snow overnight….”
It’s simple, really.
Why Modern, Western Marriage Has Become A Bad Business Decision For Men
That women don’t approve of how single men pass the time is irrelevant. Shopping and gossip aren’t exactly the pinnacles of human achievement either, ladies.
Did I alreqady know you were a ham? Did you already tell me your call? Mine’s AK4MC.
Whatever possessed a ham to choose a screenname that abbreviates to “CB”…?
About men delaying commitment: I think men in general remain kids no matter how old they become. They love to play. Marriage/having a family is something that’s scary for them. It’s such a serious matter.
Pablo. I do believe that fly fishing is a metaphor for life and even if it isn’t, I don’t care. I’m pretty much committed to that point of view. Dr. Helen Smith is wrong.
Rusty, I’d suggest another read of Helen’s piece. She’s critiquing that POV, not advocating it. She’s right.
I did not…have…sex with that vortex.
Why do today’s men run from commitment  indefinitely delaying settling down in a marriage they take seriously, and having kids?
It’s simply because having a family is something that scary for them and it’s a big and serious obligation.
I know. I’m advocating it. That point of view. Mine that is. What she said, not. I’ve tried it her way. I didn’t like it.
Don’t sunspots cause zombies?
Well, BJTexs, if the sun goes sideways on us you won’t have to. They’ll be growing wild..