A Dirty Climate Change Secret

Since the Copenhagen fiasco I've been neglecting the climate change industry. But here's a story that's too juicy to pass up.

The American government has commissioned a huge new supercomputer. It is expected to have 30 times the power of current systems. It will have its own power plant. Its fuel will be coal. It will be used to model climate change. Only in America.

The full story is at Watts Up With That.

NHL Goalie Hit With Laser - Wins Anyway

The Calgary Flames edged out the Vancouver Canucks in an NHL shootout last week, 3-2, but the real story was Flames goaltender Mikka Kiprusoff making 19 saves while being nailed in the face with a laser for the better part of 60 minutes.

Why the coach didn't take his team off the ice until the cops nabbed this moron is a mystery to me, anyway.

The Most Influential Americans - From The Telegraph

A must read for US political junkies or for anyone who needs a program to tell the players. The Telegraph of London is presenting its second list of the 100 most influential conservatives and 100 most influential liberals in America.

Here are the conservative top 20 and the liberal top 20.

All 200 here.

Google Earth Haiti Updates

Google Earth now has a KML overlay you can download which updates the satellite views of Haiti so you can actually look at the earthquake damage.

If you have not yet downloaded Google Earth you can get it here for free. It is indispensible.

All Girl All Banjo Band

Via Boing Boing, a 1928 all-girl, all-banjo orchestra plays "Shakin' the Blues Away":

Flight 1549 A Year Ago Today

I posted the link to these videos last fall when they first came available, but it is worth reposting on the anniversary of the event to remind ourselves just how remarkable an event this was and why we need people like "Sully".

One year ago today Capt. Chesley Sullenburger laid his stricken Airbus down in New York's Hudson River as nice as you please.

He and his equally cool-as-a-cucumber co-pilot Jeff Skiles saved the lives of all 155 people on the aircraft.
 

Here are several excellent video reconstructions of the incident.

China Spies On The Internet

Via Slashdot:

Researchers, examining the attacks on Google and over 20 other companies in December, have determined 'the source IPs and drop server of the attack correspond to a single foreign entity consisting either of agents of the Chinese state or proxies thereof.'"

If the report's findings are correct, it suggests that the government of China has been engaged for months in a massive campaign of industrial espionage against US companies.

Google is actually upset about this. It fought back and uncovered proof and is talking about pulling out of China. Lots more here at the New York Times.

Good geek stuff here.

More Psychedelic Pontiac Art

The Truth About Cars has this feature on the automotive art of Fitzpatrick and Kaufman. Now I've blogged about F & K's work for Pontiac back in the '60s before (here and here) - but since TTAC brought it up again, I can't resist.

I love these old ads. The cars by Fitzpatrick are stunning - and impossibly wide - and the backgrounds by Kaufman are period chic and, dare I say, totally romantic.

Art Fitzpatrick is in his 90s now and is still in business.

Facts About Haiti

Haiti is a country you rarely hear about. Now that the earthquake catastrophe has replaced all other top stories, here is some interesting info on Haiti. From the CIA Factbook.

Glenn Reynolds points to an article by Tyler Cowen at Marginal Revolution: Why is Haiti so poor?

Latest news updates by the CBC here, the BBC here and The Wall Street Journal here.

Misery In Haiti

Haiti earthquake coverage from National Public Radio:

Endemic instability, murderous dictators, more than 30 coups and a seemingly endless series of hurricanes and other natural disasters have claimed countless souls over Haiti's tumultuous 206-year history, leaving it the Americas' poorest country and utterly dependent on foreign aid.

Add to that Tuesday's 7.0-magnitude quake, the strongest to hit what is now Haiti since 1770. Initial reports on its destruction are frightening.

Much more on the scope of Haiti's catastrophe here.

California To Vote On Legalizing Pot

According to NBC, the first step to legalize marijuana in California could happen tomorrow. Lawmakers will vote on Assembly Bill 390 -- legislation to tax and regulate marijuana.

The bill, authored by San Francisco Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, would essentially treat pot the same way alcohol is treated under the law and would allow adults over 21 to possess, smoke and grow marijuana.

The law would also call for a fee of $50 per ounce sold and would help fund drug eradication and awareness programs. It could help pull California out of debt, supporters say, raising up to $990 million from the fees.

 Full text of Bill 390 here.

UPDATE: The bill passed 4-3 but will likely die anyway.

Though the successful committee vote could end up being purely symbolic, pot advocates hailed it as an important step forward.

"We're thrilled," said Stephen Gutwillig of the Drug Policy Alliance, a pro-legalization group. "This to me, this is the formal beginning of the end of marijuana prohibition in the United States."

Daily Caller Goes Live

Fox News contributor and former host of CNN’s “Crossfire", Tucker Carlson's Washington insider news site The Daily Caller went live today. Lead story? Sarah Palin will join Fox News.

Lots more about Carlson and his plans in this Wall Street Journal article from last May... And Ariana Huffington hopes he can transcend left-right polarities and wishes him luck.

Pot Precedent?

According to the Associated Press, a Superior Court Judge in L.A. (of course) has ordered the cops to give back a man's pot. For medicinal purposes (of course).

All 60 pounds of it.

Top 10 Hockey Goalie Bloopers

From TSN:

Settled Science Unsettled...

So now it's global cooling...?

From today's Mail Online:

The bitter winter afflicting much of the Northern Hemisphere is only the start of a global trend towards cooler weather that is likely to last for 20 or 30 years, say some of the world’s most eminent climate scientists.

Their predictions – based on an analysis of natural cycles in water temperatures in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans – challenge some of the global warming orthodoxy’s most deeply cherished beliefs.

"...the orthodoxy's most deeply cherished beliefs." That sounds very much like religion to me. Now even the mainstream media is calling it.

Finding Another Earth?

I hope this is true:

A top NASA official and other leading scientists say that within four or five years they should discover the first Earth-like planet where life could develop, or may have already. A planet close to the size of Earth could even be found sometime this year if preliminary hints from a new space telescope pan out.

The survival of our species - and many others - may ultimately depend on our finding an alternate habitable planet and creating the means to go there. Noah's Ark?