Hurricanes and Sunspots

There is about a 2-3 year lag from the peak of sunspot activity.



Guess when we will have our next hurricane cycle? That's right. After the sun starts it's next solar cycle.



Because sea surface temps follow the sun.

And You Only Thought This Happened In B-Movies

Two guys commit murder. One pleads out and testifies against his partner. In prison, they end up in the same cell and one of them ends up dead in 15 minutes.

McALESTER, Okla. — A 23-year-old inmate beaten to death at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary had been put in a cell with convicted killer he had testified against.

Prison spokesman Jerry Massie says Paul Duran Jr. fought with one cellmate and then was put in a cell with Jessie James Dalton.

Duran was found beaten to death about 15 minutes later.

Massie says the two were not supposed to be put in the same cell and prison officials are trying to determine how it happened.

I'll tell you how it happened. Duran pissed off the prison guards and they made a "mistake."

This makes Prison Break a little more believable. Well, except for season 3. And 4.

The Orbiting Carbon Observatory Satellite: NASA, We Have A Problem

It was really a good idea. Get accurate data on green house gasses and spend a little quality time with "science" (as opposed to the usual hysterical fear mongering).

The OCO, orbiting carbon observatory, was set to start working this month, but the satellite shit the bed soon after liftoff. See NASA's explanation here.

Why do I have a feeling that Al Gore and Mark Serreze are secretly happy that this thing went bad? If the science debate is over (Al Gore) and we are in the "death spiral" (Mark Serreze), the new data would only be a distraction. Because they really like the current GHG-global warming hypothesis, and without a platform like the OCO we are back to having science standing on it's head trying to disprove an unproven hypothesis.

Obama Offers To Srap Missle Shield For A Handfull Of Magic Beans

:::Update Medvedev says go to hell:::

So who are we negotiating with here, the Russians or the Iranians? Aren't the Russians selling the Iranians their missile technology? Didn't the Russians help build the nuke plants? Aren't they one in the same?

President Obama offered to consider scrapping plans for a missile defense shield in Europe if Russia helps rein in Iran's nuclear program, the Russian newspaper Kommersant reported.

The article said Obama wrote to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to tell him Russia's aid in resolving the threat from Iran would make the missile shield plans unnecessary, according to an account from Russian news agency RIA Novosti.

A senior administration official told FOX News that Obama sent a letter to Medvedev but "we won't comment on the specifics."

So as long as Iran promises to be good we will drop our defenses... Seriously, it's not like Iran promotes the use of missiles anywhere.

Back to the fairy tale analogy. In Jack's fantasy, he really doesn't have much to lose in the first place. All he gives up is a broke cow and he ends up with a warm meal and a crack at the golden goose. That plus a couple of hours away from his bitchy mother.

In Obama's fantasy, he's betting an American city that the bad guys will stop hating us because we are no longer a threat to defend ourselves. ...And that Russia and Iran will tell him the truth.

Given those two scenarios, the fucking vine to the clouds and the gold-shitting goose takes less suspension of disbelief than honest self-reporting from the Iranian Mullahs.

The Russians and Iranians have to be laughing their asses off at Obama. So what is the fallback position here? You just offered up your most valuable negotiating asset in the first go-round.

Not to mention that Obama has spent the last 18 months signaling that he would scrap missle defense for NOTHING. So the Russians will pinch one of their best trading partners over something that has no value to you? I guess he assumes the Russians don't read newspapers. And in case you didn't notice, nobody fucking asked.

I never understood Jack's mom getting pissed off at the kid for not getting top dollar for that old cow. But if a promise is all Obama can get for our missile defense system after decades of development, we would have been better off having Jack as our Secretary of State.



Update: Medvedev says go to hell. AP translates as,

Russian President Medvedev has said he's willing to discuss the proposed US missile shield with Washington. But he added that any deal linking those talks with negotiations regarding Iran would not be productive.

Russian President Dimitry Medvedev's comments came in response to a New York Times report that US President Barack Obama had written a secret letter to his Russian counterpart offering to halt the planned missile shield, which would be located mainly in Poland and the Czech Republic, in return for Moscow's help in stopping Iran from developing long-range nuclear weapons.