Wednesday - January 12, 2011

2011 Freedom Update: Legislating Common Courtesy

Yes, I can’t stand those lazy bastards either. Getting behind a driver who has barely cleared a porthole in the snow on his windshield can be both frustrating and dangerous. Frustrating, because all the crap blows off his SUV - it’s usually a minivan or a damn Jeep Cherokee - leaving a wake of blown off snow on everyone else as they blast down the highway. And dangerous, especially with the bigger SUVs and trucks, when a great chunk of ice comes flying off the roof and heads right at you at 75mph. So now NJ has passed a law. For your own good. Another one of those laws, like their “move over” law, that legislates common sense and common courtesy. I hate laws like that, and I think they are unconstitutional. But this one twists my soul, because it makes sense, and it really is necessary. I hate that in an unconstitutional law, don’t you?

Judging from the last snowfall, I guess not everyone got the memo — the one from Trenton after years of debate.

That would be the law making New Jersey the first state to impose fines on drivers who don’t clear snow or ice from their vehicles before it flies off and inflicts damage or injury.

Statute 39:4-77.1 finally took effect just in time for the post-Christmas blizzard as well as Friday’s snowfall, but that didn’t stop drivers from carrying several inches of snow on roofs and hoods. As you can see from reader photos taken in such places as Fair Lawn and Woodland Park, drivers and their employers must think this new law is only advisory.

It isn’t. The fine is $25 for the first offense. Subsequent offenses can cost $75 each. They’re higher if your snow causes injury or damage — $200 to $1,500.

Commercial big rig trucks are NOT exempt. Somebody better get up on top of the trailer and brush it off:

… other New Jersey drivers favor the snow ban by a 2-1 ratio, according to a AAA poll. But if truckers, or anyone else, can’t bear to clean up, here’s the best motivation:

“We don’t issue warnings for this violation,” said state police Capt. Frank Davis. “Drivers are expected to comply.”

BE IT ENACTED by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

9 1. Section 1 of P.L.1997, c.124 (C.39:4-77.1) is amended to read as follows:

11 1. a.
(1) Each driver of a motor vehicle operated on a street or highway in this State shall have an affirmative duty to make all reasonable efforts to remove accumulated ice or snow from
exposed surfaces of3 the motor vehicle prior to operation [; this] ,which surfaces shall include, but not be limited to, the hood, trunk, windshield, windows, and roof of the motor vehicle, the
cab of a truck, the top of a trailer or semitrailer being drawn by a motor vehicle, and the top of an intermodal freight container being carried by an intermodal chassis. A person who violates the
provisions of this subsection may be stopped on a street or highway by a law enforcement officer who believes the accumulated ice or snow may pose a threat to persons or property and shall be subject to a fine of not less than $25 or more than $75 for each offense regardless of whether any snow or ice is dislodged from the motor vehicle. No motor vehicle points or automobile insurance eligibility points pursuant to section 26 of P.L.1990, c.8 (C.17:33B-14) shall be assessed for [this offense] a violation of this paragraph.

Did you get that? You don’t even have to be driving around such that any snow is falling off your vehicle. If a cop thinks your vehicle is a danger, you get fined. No ifs, ands, or buts. But at least you can only be fined once per day, and they can’t nail you until it stops snowing:

Every day upon which a violation occurs shall be considered a separate violation, but no person shall be subject to more than one fine for a violation of this paragraph in a period of consecutive hours.

(2) This subsection shall not apply to any driver of a motor vehicle operated during a snow or ice storm that began and continued for the duration of the motor vehicle’s operation or to any operator of a motor vehicle while it is parked.

(3) No fine shall be imposed pursuant to paragraph (1) of this subsection on the driver of a commercial motor vehicle, as the term is defined in R.S.39:1-1, that is traveling to a location where
equipment or technology that is used to remove snow and ice from commercial motor vehicles is available, provided that the driver has not already passed a location with snow and ice removal equipment or technology after snow or ice shall have accumulated on the exposed surfaces of the commercial motor vehicle.

blah blah blah. This law went into effect in the fall, and it looks like commercial vehicles will have one year to comply. So all the truck stops and weigh stations are going to be getting roof scrubbers I guess. And part of the fine money will go towards grants to provide such things to the truck stops. Read the whole thing if you have the inclination.

Now I think I’ll start pushing Trenton to pass my Mud Flap bill. It would require all vehicles, SUVs and tractor trailer trucks included, to have fenders that extend at least 1.5” out further than the sidewall of their tires (that part already is law, although I think it’s limited to the tread groove area) and mudflaps in the back that are at least 2” wider than the tires AND hang down at least 3” below the center of the wheel, or to within 4” of the pavement, whichever is closer. And they have to be stiff enough or heavy enough to stay in place at 90mph on dry pavement. I utterly HATE getting behind some assmunch oblivion bastard driving his fatpig SUV down the highway, with such aggressive off road tires on it that you can hear them screaming from half a mile away, blasting up thousands of gallons of spew on rainy days.  Get some street tires numbnuts, and cover your damn treads. Jeep drivers are the worst offenders, especially those dimwits in Cherokees (which NEVER go off-road even as far as a gravel driveway in NJ). Every single car in this state has chips in the hood and in the windshield from gravel kicked up by your inconsideration, and I for one am sick of being blinded by the fog you jerk offs leave behind you when you cut me off in wet weather. Cut the spew, or we’ll cut you. Legally that is, via nasty fines and points on your license. And I’ll get the law written like this snow law, so that all a cop has to do is put a ruler up against your car in the parking lot. It won’t even have to be raining. And you’ll get a $200 fine in the mail.

PS - next time you’re out on the highway during a rain storm, pay attention to the trailers on the UPS trucks. They all have this brush arrangement above the wheels, and it does a better job of catching the water and stopping the spew than anything I’ve ever seen. I’m not sure how it works, but it does work quite well. As far as I’ve seen, they are the only ones using this design.

Posted by Drew458     on 01/12/2011 at 10:34 PM   
Filed Under: • Climate-Weather • FREEDOM • Judges-Courts-Lawyers •  
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   Wednesday - December 29, 2010

Stoners For Global Warming?

Like, wow man, the total irony.

I was bopping through the news this morning, looking for something interesting to post on, when I found an article at FoxNews on indoor gardening.

How to Build a High-Tech Indoor Garden This Winter

The dark days of winter are upon us, but that doesn’t mean you have to give up on gardening until the spring. Grow lamps are becoming increasingly popular in gardening circles these days. And new breeds of low-power lights make them affordable options for those looking to keep a kitchen stocked with green herbs through the winter months, or those just looking to jump start their seedlings for next spring.

Before going any further, we need a quick scientific crash course. Plants need fairly intense light to grow, and the intensity of light in measured in a factor called lumens. The higher the lumen value of a bulb, the stronger the light and the better your plants will grow. For noticeable growth, you’ll want a bulb that puts out at least 4,000 lumens, and some bulbs can produce upwards of 40,000 lumens.

But a light’s intensity isn’t the only thing you have to look for; the temperature of the light is also important, a value measured in kelvins. Temperature in this case refers to the color of the light: the bluer, or colder the light, the higher the kelvin value. The warmer, or redder the light, the lower the value.

... and so on. Who is he kidding? And how did this article sneak in? It’s instructions on how to build a grow room. For your flowers, of course. And your “green herbs”. Uh huh. He goes on a bit about the different kind of bulbs out there and how well they work for growing plants. Incandescent (very poor), fluorescent (poor), etc., up to HID lamps (awesome). I think he wanted to write that the newest LED bulbs were the be-all and end-all, but they aren’t. Not yet. They don’t use much electricity, and they can be built to emit specific frequencies of light, but they simply don’t put out anywhere near enough light. And yet ... neither this author nor any other has really taken a look at the latest generation of Cree LEDs. I think they are the wave of the future, but the thing about the future is that it isn’t here yet.

What is the Cree LED? This is not the little red light on your coffee pot. These little 1/4” bitches are awesome! They generate an extraordinary amount of light. I’ve got a digital flashlight that uses one of them, and at the two highest settings it’s a weapon. The painfully bright light will shut your eyes down, causing near temporary blindness. 630 lumens for several hours from 8 AA batteries. Other flashlights drive these LEDs even harder, and produce 900-1000 lumens but with shorter battery life. Imagine a few of these as reflector lamps run off of low voltage transformers. Still, even 630 lumens - about the same light output as a regular 40 watt lightbulb - from something the size of the head of a carpet tack, that needs only 12 volts, is might impressive. 16 of them on a 1” square lamp would light up a barn while using perhaps 32 watts of electricity.

[ HUGE amounts of redacted writing here, as Drew decided he didn’t really want this post to be a lesson on how to build a grow room and a step by step guide to light usage, placement, intensity, and purpose over the life cycle of short season plants. Like those “green herbs”. Uh huh. ]

Once upon a time this was all semi-secret underground information. But thanks to the internet, today it’s just a mouse click or two away, and you can read all sorts of scientific papers on indoor gardening, starting with the original ones, done by the Department of Defense back in the late 50s, who envisioned vast underground bunkers filled with people waiting for the Nuclear Winter to end and the post-apocalyptic radiation levels to fall, and knew that those people would need to eat. So they went out and figured out just what kind of light, how much and how many hours of it per day, what ambient temperature, what N-P-K soil additives, and even what CO₂ levels would produce the most efficient plant growth. Many other studies have been done since then, and now all sorts of data is easily available.

What about the stoners dude?

You can’t spend very much time looking up information on building an indoor greenhouse before you run across carbon dioxide. It’s the greenhouse gas you want in your greenhouse. Plants breath the stuff, duh. And a good greenhouse is a fully controlled environment, right down to the air itself. And ... surprise, surprise! ... it turns out that plants LOVE CO₂! They adore it. Hell, they literally live for it. And study after study after study shows that significantly higher levels of the stuff promotes plant growth. Those studies also show that when the CO₂ levels get really high, plants need higher temperatures to get the most out of it. And more light and water too, and eventually more fertilizer. A rich moist brilliant almost-hot hothouse environment.

Currently, the most recent CO₂ level measurement from Hawaii is 388.59 PPM. For optimum plant growth, the ideal indoor greenhouse level is 1500 PPM, more than 4 times higher than current world conditions. In regular sunlight, plants really want levels 5 times higher than what’s outside. 500% more. Just to attain their full potential. Other studies have shown that plants can live in atmospheres with as much as 10,000 PPM of CO₂, even though levels over 2500 PPM are lethal for people.

This is pretty much common knowledge across dozens, if not tens of thousands, of Grow Pot In Your Closet websites. And just as many nominally upstanding horticultural ones, a few of which I’ve linked to in this post.

So there it is, in digital black and white. The truth is out there. More carbon dioxide plus warmer temperatures equals more plant growth. More plant growth equals higher crop yields. Left leaning stoner hippies already know this, and go to great lengths to make it happen for their crop of bud. Higher crop yields mean more food ( or more “green herbs” ) for more people. More food for more people means less hunger and starvation. So why is anyone unhappy about a possible slight increase in global temperatures or CO2 levels? I’d call it cause for celebration! More food for everybody, let’s eat!

Posted by Drew458     on 12/29/2010 at 12:40 PM   
Filed Under: • Amazing Science and Discoveries • Climate-Weather •  
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   Sunday - December 26, 2010

Run Away!!

Yup, plans change. We got home here at 5 after midnight. That was not the original plan, but the weather wienies are going nuts. A “perfect storm” of 3 different snow systems is coming together “much faster than anticipated” and is going to hammer the Philly - NY - Boston corridor but good. Expectations of a foot and a half, maybe more.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – A rare white Christmas in parts of the South was complicating life for some travelers as airlines canceled hundreds of flights, while snow was predicted for the nation’s Capital and travel authorities warned of potentially dangerous roads.

The National Weather Service said the storm could bring 6 to 10 inches of snow to the Washington region, beginning Sunday. The Weather Service was also forecasting possible Sunday snow for the New York and Boston areas, with overnight temperatures in the 20s and wind gusts up to 30 mph.

This must be an old weather post from Fox News today.

So we figured we’d be better off home, so after a few cups of coffee and a little post-dinner rest we got back on the highway and drove. Traffic wasn’t too bad, only a few holiday crazy folks. I really wanted to stay over, but the weather is the boss this time of year, and you do what you have to do.

Somehow I think my cousin’s plan to drive tomorrow from his home in Marblehead MA across NY to his sister’s place outside of Syracuse NY and then down to my uncle’s in Binghamton NY isn’t really going to work. A foot or two of snow can change your plans.

OTOH, if it doesn’t now snow like mad, I’m gonna be miffed. But I’ll be miffed here and just go and do my Sunday job, versus being up there and having to worry whether the storm will hit while I’m trying to drive back here with 2 million other post holiday drivers out on the roads. Yeah, I think we made the right decision.

Snow will spread east from the Tennessee Valley into the Carolinas Christmas Day, continuing into Sunday. Below are the accumulations we are forecasting with the heaviest totals expected to fall over North Carolina, including Raleigh and Charlotte.
...
Sunday:
From there, the storm rapidly intensifies just off the Mid-Atlantic coast. Snow will spread northward from southern Va. and the southern Delmarva Peninsula early Sunday morning into southern New England, Long Island, and the Delaware Valley by midday Sunday. This includes most of the Northeast Megalopolis, particularly New York City and Boston.

There remains uncertainty with the exact low track, which could keep the greatest snows east of Baltimore and Washington, D.C..

Sunday afternoon and evening, snow will intensify in southern New England. At this time, the period of heaviest snow appears to fall in the NYC metro area Sunday afternoon & early evening, and in the Boston metro area Sunday night. Expect maximum travel impact during these times!
...
Monday morning, heavy, wind-driven snow will continue in New England, including the Boston metro area. Lighter, “wrap-around” snow will linger, then end around midday from New York City southward along the Jersey shore.
...
Late Monday afternoon into Monday night, the most significant snow will pull into Maine. However, strong northwest winds in the storm’s wake could produce areas of blowing and drifting snow, making travel by car still quite difficult.

Yeah, this report is a bit more up to date than the first one.

We snagged all sorts of leftovers on our way out the door, including about 5 pounds of glazed ham. That may have been a good idea.

Very tired now. Long day. And so to bed. Merry Day After, and I’ll post when I can.

Posted by Drew458     on 12/26/2010 at 12:41 AM   
Filed Under: • Climate-Weather • Holidays •  
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   Tuesday - December 21, 2010

BRRRRloody Weather!

The New Ice Age continues to hold England in it’s awful grasp. Too cold to even write about it any more, Pieper has resorted to duct taping hot water bottles to his hands and feet in a futile effort to stay warm. And the weather forecast is for more. Damn that Global Warming!

How Cold Is It?

It’s so cold that ... well, have some links and figure it out:

Brits can’t even get out of the country!

Nope, no escape!

Warming up in the classic way is really going to cost you!

It’s white out! And it’s even worse looking down from above!

No break in the weather. Cold, getting colder, getting even colder, maybe some more snow.

Is there a bright side in all this? You betcha. Be thankful you’re not in Germany! Allawoo Snackbar!!!!!

Posted by Drew458     on 12/21/2010 at 11:15 AM   
Filed Under: • Climate-Weather • UK •  
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   Monday - December 13, 2010

cancun … where the elite meet ta eat and frolic while others pick up the tab.

DOWN, with global warming.

UP, with Climate Change.  All hail and long live the newer version of the old religion.  Tax donate till it hurts in order to help the poorer countries.

Hey, why not just let those poor countries tax the west and forget donations etc.  Hell, they’ve been taxing us for generations anyway.

Newspapers and charities insist on showing us pictures of baleful stares and pitiful poses (and mostly they are posed), of starving turd worlders. Like Somalia for one example. Haiti is another.  Oh yeah. Before I forget. 

What the sam hill is our lady Sarah doing in Haiti?  She is getting some bad input from advisors I think.  Come on, is anyone gonna believe it was her idea? Even if it were, it’s going to be seen as more political (which you know it has to be) then any warm feelings for a failed country that has been an open money pit for the west for generations.  Nothing is going to change in that blighted place for the next thousand years.  Those folks just are not up to it. Alright, maybe they’ll start to make progress in 500 years. Sarah Palin in Haiti my friends just does not appear natural.  Couldn’t her advisors find something a bit closer to home to focus on? 

Back to climate change and the horrid things man and woman kind are doing to our planet.  Leaving huge carbon footprints. One of the newest of the new deadly sins in this religion. So like 15,000 (or was it 1,500?) fat cats from around the globe, all gathered in comfy rooms at four or five star hotels in Cancun, with miles of rented limos and how many planes?  All to discuss the subject bequeathed by the prophet Gore, may he find a good piece to curl up with. 

So it now comes to this.  It’s suggested that another tax be levied on the Brit taxpayer in gween taxes, to help the poor blighted countries of the world.
As though this country hasn’t paid, and been paying for years and years and years and years and years ......  When is this BS gonna end? When exactly are people going to wake the hell up and say damn it. Enough!  Groan.

Here. Take a look.

Cancun climate change conference: Britain is urged to impose £15 billion in green taxes

British taxpayers could pay an extra £600 per year in green taxes to help poor countries cope with the floods and droughts caused by climate change, Lord Stern has suggested.

By Louise Gray, Environment Correspondent Cancun

The economist said the UK would have to contribute around £1.5 billion from 2020 to a new ‘green fund’, that is expected to be set up during global talks on climate change in Cancun this week.

The Treasury is unlikely to set up new mechanisms to raise such a small amount of cash.

Therefore it is better to raise ten times as much and use just ten per cent for the green fund. The rest can be used as the Government sees fit.

An extra £15 billion could be raised in taxes on polluting industry and power from coal, gas and petrol. Although the levies will be directly on factories or power stations, eventually it will come down to the consumers.

If every householder was to pay the same amount it would cost £600, although ultimately it is likely to be unevenly distributed as households with more cars or high energy use will pay more.

“People would see these tax rises through electricity, through cars,” said Lord Stern.

However he was keen to point out that the overall bill for households would not necessarily increase as taxes should reduce elsewhere. Also energy costs should come down as a result of improved efficiency and more renewables.

“This is a story of people paying for the damage they do, this is stopping subsidising pollution,” he said.

“This is a story of shifting the basis of taxation, it could be from VAT, it could be income tax, or they could fund schools. This is a change in the balance of taxation.”

The UK is already paying billions of pounds installing wind turbines and other green energy sources, as part of global efforts to cut carbon emissions.

more here

The hard copy version says the taxpayer SHOULD pay ... the on line version says COULD pay.

Why not just forget about it altogether?  Cos then all those fat cats would have no where to fly every year at someone else’s expense. They’d most likely have to stay home. Maybe even with their wives and or husbands.

Posted by peiper     on 12/13/2010 at 02:49 PM   
Filed Under: • Climate-Weather • Environment • International •  
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   Wednesday - December 08, 2010

brrr

via Drudge, et al

UK: Coldest First Week of December Since ... Almost Forever.

UK: Coldest Last Week of November Since ... Forever.

UK: Global WHAT?????

England has been keeping temperature records since a few decades after Shakespeare died. 1659 to be exact.  The recording station is in the center of the country, so it’s called the Central England Temperature. In all that time, 1879 was the coldest first week of December, and one of only 4 years where the average daily temperature was below 0°C:

1962: 0.1
1952: 0.0
1925: -0.3
1902: 0.8
1889: 0.8
1879: -3.6
1875: 0.1
1871: 0.6
1869: 0.5
1846: 0.7
1844: -0.7
1796: -1.9
1788: 0.9
1782: 0.6

For this past week, the CET number is -1.9. This makes this past week the coldest one since 1879, and ties ( with 1796 ) it as the second coldest one since 1659.

For the last week in November, the coldest CET numbers are

1782: 0.8
1788: 2.4
1801: 2.5
1804: 2.8
1807: 0.3
1816: 2.6
1874: 2.9
1875: 1.3
1878: 2.2
1879: 1.2
1890: 0.2
1925: 0.8
1947: 2.0
1952: 0.5

The CET for the last week of November just past is -1.1. That makes it the coldest last week in November ever, since 1659. Which is about when the damn thermometer was invented I think.

Put together, the -1.1 and the -1.9 mean that the past two weeks have been the coldest fortnight in all of recorded English history for this time of the year. BTW, that history encompasses 2 of the 3 minima of the Little Ice Age, and just barely misses the first minima by 9 years.

http://badc.nerc.ac.uk/view/badc.nerc.ac.uk__ATOM__dataent_CET
http://www.ukweatherworld.co.uk/forum/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=40375&posts=15
http://www.accuweather.com/ukie/bastardi-europe-blog.asp?partner=accuweather
http://opinion.financialpost.com/2010/12/05/lawrence-solomon-the-7-billion-carbon-scam/#ixzz17RIo17Jm

I wrote to Peiper asking him about plastic wrap for his windows, or electric socks for his feet. No response. Hope he hasn’t frozen himself to the loo over there.

Posted by Drew458     on 12/08/2010 at 06:37 PM   
Filed Under: • Climate-Weather •  
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   Monday - December 06, 2010

cold and more on the way but gorebal warming expected to come to rescue soon.

Just a brief note and an outdated map.  Only by a couple days at most tho.

Went outside around 10:45 this morning, to get the car out of the garage.  It was the first time since coming here in April of ought four, that I have truly felt the cold to a degree I hadn’t experienced before.  Even the lock on the garage door was slightly frozen.  That hadn’t happened before either.

My computer sits at an old desk in front of a bay window. There is heat in the room from two sources but even so, legs feel frozen from toes to knees.
Time to put on thermals I think.

Posted by peiper     on 12/06/2010 at 06:41 AM   
Filed Under: • Climate-Weather • UK •  
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   Saturday - December 04, 2010

cold but dry as more bad weather on the way …

Very cold still but much snow melted in our section. Not going out for sure till Monday, we hope.

Answer for Drew re. window casements. Yup. They’re iron, rusted through but in 1924 they were state of the art. Should have been replaced long ago.
Question. They’re supposed to keep rain out? Really? lol.  They bleed water this time of year and if wind is up you can feel it.

Going to try and do a large grocery shop in the hope that there’s still something to shop for. Can’t do anything till Mon. at the earliest. Dairy here delivers almost everything tho, so if their supplies are good there shouldn’t be anything to be concerned about.  It mostly folks in the north that really feel this. We’ve been lucky so far but not complacent.  Have heard that somewhere a lot of folks lost power for awhile. Now that’s scary.

Photos at links.

The ultimate lock-in: Seven trapped in Yorkshire pub for last EIGHT days as forecasters warn Big Freeze will go on for at least another week

By Daily Mail Reporter

* Snow death toll up to seven, after two men killed in motorway crash
* Temperatures rise but ice and snow warnings remain
* Host of sporting fixtures called off in England, Scotland and Wales
* Government urges Britons not to panic buy
* Cash machines running out of money as snows hamper delivery vans
* Limits on truckers’ working hours relaxed to help transport of vital supplies
* Rail networks still facing delays

While thousands braved the cold to begin their Christmas shopping, seven people in North Yorkshire are praying for better weather after being snowed into a pub for eight days and counting.

Heavy snow showers and strong winds have left the group stuck in the Lion Inn pub in Blakey Ridge, Kirkbymoorside since last Friday, with little chance of an escape.

Drifts of up to 16ft blocked the inn’s doors and windows, with the surrounding roads impassable, and to make matters worse, the stranded seven’s cars are buried under nine foot of snow.

The group’s predicament in the fourth highest pub in England continues as forecasters warned Britons to expect icy conditions for at least another week, with temperatures falling as low as -10C in the South East of England overnight.

Katie Underwood, 18, who has been a waitress at the Lion Inn for four years, said: ‘It was really novel at first, and quite exciting. 

‘The snow is immense. Most of the windows in here are blocked up, but we’ve got a door open at the back to get some air when we need to.’

oh the weather outside is frightful

Two pensioners ‘freeze to death’ after collapsing in their gardens as the Big Chill hits minus 20

By Sara Nelson

Two pensioners have been found dead in their gardens amid the freezing conditions.

William Wilson, 84, was found dead in his garden in Kirby Stephen, Cumbria, on Tuesday. It is not known how long he lay undetected.

The body of Lillian Jenkinson, 80, was discovered in her back garden in Workington, also in Cumbria, at 10.40am the next day.

Post-mortem examinations will be held to determine whether both of the pensioners froze to death in the sub-zero temperatures.

Today detectives said Mrs Jenkinson may have fallen in her garden and spent the night in freezing conditions before she was discovered.

source and photos

Posted by peiper     on 12/04/2010 at 04:25 PM   
Filed Under: • Climate-Weather • UK •  
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   Saturday - November 27, 2010

Oh the weather outside is frightful

‘Stay indoors!’ Police warn Britons to stay off the roads as temperatures fall to MINUS 10C and 15 inches of snow falls

Freezing weather will grip Britain for weeks to come, forecasters warned tonight - with rain, sleet and snow expected across the country.

Some of the worst widespread early snow for 17 years has seen much of the country disrupted and police in affected areas are urging people to stay indoors.

Severe weather warnings have been in place, with Scotland and North East England experiencing the worst of the weather, and snowfalls of up to 40cm in some areas.

Overnight temperatures across the UK plunged well below zero again.

Trawscoed in Wales saw the mercury dip to -10.2C, while Dalwhinnie in the Scottish Highlands recorded -8.2c, and Glasgow -3.5c.

In England, Chesham in Buckinghamshire was among the coldest places at minus 7c. And at Preston in Lancashire the temperature fell to -5.8c.

There was also snow today across parts of Wales, the West Midlands and Cornwall and temperatures across the country struggled to rise above zero even in the major cities.

The M4 westbound in south Wales saw a 26-mile tailback last night, with the M25 and M40 also badly hit.

The unusual weather has been caused by high pressure over Greenland and low pressure in the Baltics, forcing cold winds from the north east across Europe.

Northumbria Police urged motorists to stay off the roads and advised people to dress in warm clothing.

A spokesman said: ‘Anyone going outside should consider whether their journey is critical and if they must venture out should dress appropriately.’
...
Tom Tobler of MeteoGroup, the weather division of the Press Association, said: ‘The temperature throughout the day has struggled to get above zero in many areas.

‘It will be a similar situation tomorrow, staying very cold, with Scotland seeing the majority of the snow showers. But there may be snow in some western areas as well.

‘Overnight it will be very cold, well below zero everywhere, going down to minus 7C quite widely.

‘The cold weather will stay during the week with a brisk easterly wind developing which will make it feel even colder and which might bring more snow showers.’
...
‘We’re advising people who have no choice but to travel to exercise extreme caution.

‘Even in areas without snow there is an ever present risk of ice.’

Flights at some airports were delayed - including at Jersey Airport where lightning hit the radar system overnight. There were also runway closures at airports including Luton, Newcastle and Inverness.

A number of sporting events were cancelled, including race meetings and FA Cup fixtures Hartlepool United vs Yeovil Town and Notts County vs Bournemouth.

The unusual weather has been caused by high pressure over Greenland and low pressure in the Baltic, forcing cold winds from the north east across Europe.

The cold snap was welcomed by skiers in Scotland who headed for the hills to enjoy the start of the season.

At Cairngorm Mountain resort near Aviemore in the Highlands around 1,500 people took to the slopes.

Spokeswoman Tania Alliod said: ‘We’ve had a super day. It’s an excellent start to the season as it’s still very early in the winter. The cold front is set to continue so we’re hoping it’s an early Christmas present for everyone.

‘We hope it will be great for Christmas and New Year.’

Gosh. Isn’t winter in the UK supposed to last about 3 weeks with an inch of snow on Christmas Eve, followed by a bit of fog? Damn that Al Gore!!!!

Posted by Drew458     on 11/27/2010 at 07:12 PM   
Filed Under: • Climate-Weather •  
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   Friday - November 26, 2010

gorebal warming is slowing down … where will that leave the priests of the new religion?

Oh dear .. The Bunny Huggers aren’t gonna alike this.
Be interesting to learn what sort of excuses or bad names will be applied to the scientists who do not belong to the new GWarming religion.

Now before settling in on anything or accepting this report, lets wait to hear what Al Bore has to say on the subject.
He has been kind of quiet lately tho, hasn’t he?

Global warming has slowed down over the past 10 years, say scientists

By Daily Mail Reporter

The rate at which global temperatures are rising has slowed in the past decade, scientists said today.

In a report published today, the Met Office said the slow in the rate of warming was down to a combination of natural variation in the weather and pollution.

Scientists say one of the major factors is the rise in heavy industry and pollutant ‘aerosols’, particularly in Asia.

An upsurge in industrial emissions such as sulphur which are being pumped into the atmosphere reflects sunlight and could lead to a cooling effect.

Changes in the amount of water vapour in the stratosphere may also be a factor, the report suggests.

The admission will be seized upon by climate sceptics as evidence that man-made global warming has been overstated.

all the rest of it is here

Posted by peiper     on 11/26/2010 at 01:52 PM   
Filed Under: • Climate-Weather • Environment •  
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   Monday - November 22, 2010

Down the Memory Hole

Hey, remember Global Warming? No, me neither. Two years ago we were being hit with a dozen news stories a day, every day. Now, nothing. Kind of like how the media only talks about the plight of the homeless when there’s a Republican in the White House, but far worse than that. The story has simply ceased to exist. Probably because the whole thing has been proven fraudulent? I’m still waiting for Algore to be arrested for his part in the Carbon Credits ponzi scheme. And it’s high time he gave back his Nobel prize.

But CBullit does remember, and he’s been steadfast in running the AGW stories the rest of us grew sick of ages ago. So now he’s put together a lovely little timeline of the whole ClimateGate crash and burn. It’s a grand thing to read, short but with lots of links. With some blingy spassfabrik wallpaper too.

But unlike with other government scandals involving huge amounts of stolen money and outright lies, the press had already been bought and paid for–so they ignored the story of the year.

Posted by Drew458     on 11/22/2010 at 11:16 AM   
Filed Under: • Climate-Weather •  
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   Thursday - November 04, 2010

A First Victory

Why the heck not, now that the Chicago Carbon Credit Exchange is belly up? No chance of scamming money on the deal, so let it die. But don’t be fooled, it ain’t over ‘till it’s over. And it ain’t over yet.

President Barack Obama said Wednesday he will look for ways to control global warming other than placing a ceiling on greenhouse gases.

“Cap-and-trade was just one way of skinning the cat; it was not the only way,” Obama said at a news conference a day after Democrats lost control of the House. “I’m going to be looking for other means to address this problem.”

Legislation putting a limit on heat-trapping greenhouse gases and then allowing companies to buy and sell pollution permits under that ceiling narrowly passed the House in 2009 as a centerpiece of Obama’s domestic agenda, but then stalled in the Senate.

Republicans dubbed the bill cap-and-tax because it would raise energy prices. They then used it as a club in the midterm elections against Democrats who voted for it. Thirty of the bill’s supporters were among the some 50 House Democrats whom voters turned out of office Tuesday.

“There are a lot of Republicans that ran against the energy bill that passed in the House last year,” Obama said. “And so it’s doubtful that you could get the votes to pass that through the House this year or next year or the year after.”

He said it was important, in whatever solutions are pursued, “not to have us ignore the science, but rather find ways that we can solve these problems that don’t hurt the economy … that in fact may give us opportunities to create entire new industries and create jobs.”

“Cap-and-trade was just one way of skinning the cat; it was not the only way,” Obama said at a news conference Wednesday, a day after Democrats lost control of the House. “I’m going to be looking for other means to address this problem.”

Posted by Drew458     on 11/04/2010 at 08:36 AM   
Filed Under: • Climate-Weather •  
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   Wednesday - October 06, 2010

tree hugging, planet saving, carbon watching politically correct dictionary and thesaurus.

I haven’t a clue how they would know how many flights a year you take.  How about this for some PC bullying. Of course, like a tv show you don’t like, there’s a choice. In this case, download or do not download. I haven’t made up my mind and in any event, we really don’t fly much these days anyway.

This is a highly recommended online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Word Finder.  This is the free version. http://wordweb.info/free/licence5.html

Now then, what the hell does this have to do with flying?  You couldn’t make it up but these jerks did.
You may NOT have the free version if you fly too often, more then 2wice a year I think.  These guys really take planet saving and carbon footprints to a new extreme.

WordWeb free version licensing

WordWeb free version may be used indefinitely only by people who take at most two commercial flights (not more than one return flight) in any 12 month period. People who fly more than this need to purchase the Pro version if they wish to continue to use it after a 30-day trial period.

Global greenhouse gas emissions are currently around 5 tonnes of carbon dioxide per person per year, and probably need to be reduced by at least 80% have a good chance of avoiding dangerous warming. Most computer users are responsible for far more emissions than is sustainable. For example two short-medium distance return flights can be equivalent to over 1 tonne of emissions1: more than an average person can safely emit over an entire year.

If you do not qualify you must uninstall the program after the 30-day trial period or purchase WordWeb Pro. The licensing model is designed to allow relatively non-wealthy people to use the program free of charge, and to provide a small incentive for other people who fly a lot to cut down.

Whenever a user no longer meets the above requirements, and they have installed the product for more than 30 days, they must uninstall the product or purchase WordWeb Pro.

There is one exception to the above: not-for-profit educational establishments may make a network installation of WordWeb for the use of their students (regardless of whether their students individually meet the licensing requirement).

Flights are particularly bad because of additional non-carbon emissions and cloud formation at high altitude: the short-term warming effect is estimated to be many times worse than the same CO2 emission at ground level, perhaps a factor of two worse on a twenty-year timescale, but it could be worse than this - the science is not well understood.

Think that’s all? Here’s more and another link to their dumb assed reasoning.  This is very much edited so I recommend you visit the link to read more of the nonsense.

Licence discussion and references

Various people have questioned the WordWeb 5 licensing terms. It is true that targetting flights is a very crude measure; many people’s CO2 emissions come mostly from their home due to inefficient heating, insulation or air conditioning. However the licence is designed to be easy to understand, and sufficiently simple that people will know immediately whether or not they satisfy it. If you break the licence you are certainly responsible for more emissions per person than are sustainable, and you can certainly afford to buy the Pro version. The licence is not telling you what to do: that is up to you, but if you don’t satisfy the licence you need to pay to use the program.

Flights

Currently no CO2 emission reduction schemes include international flights. This is a very serious problem; for example, the UK has a climate change bill aiming at 80% reductions in net emissions by 2050. If you take into account projections for unrestricted growth in aviation, at 60% cut in all other emissions will result in a total cut of about only about 30-50% [Ref]: aviation growth will prevent the target being reached unless seriously restricted.

What has this to do with WordWeb?

Some people feel that this has nothing to do with WordWeb, and the licensing terms are ridiculous. We agree the situation is ridiculous; the WordWeb licensing is just reflecting the current huge under-pricing of air travel. Every time you fly you are not paying the cost to the environment (and hence other people); in economics terms climate-changing emissions are an important externality leading to a market failure. WordWeb is trying to slightly increase the cost of flying via its licence to correct for this anomaly. If and when air travel is charged correctly to reflect the total cost, which is much the most efficient solution, the WordWeb licence will be changed to a more sensible economic model.

The licence also has the advantage that people who cannot easily afford to pay can use the program for free. If you can afford to fly, so that you do not satisfy the licence, you can afford to buy the program.

http://wordweb.info/free/licence_discuss.html

Posted by peiper     on 10/06/2010 at 08:37 AM   
Filed Under: • Big Brother • Climate-Weather • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • Stoopid-People • UK •  
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   Friday - September 03, 2010

That’s Earl, Folks!!!

As the rapidly diminishing hurricane Earl heads up the Atlantic seaboard, doing little to no damage, and just inconveniencing 70 million people for a few days, I thought I’d share our piece of it.

We got a tendril of the storm. One. Heading south around sunset. Slowly. Not a drop of rain, not a puff of wind.

Let’s write this one up as a good disaster preparedness exercise for everyone. 

Posted by Drew458     on 09/03/2010 at 06:55 PM   
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