Wednesday, September 9, 2009

“Almanac forecasts chilly, wet winter - Evansville Courier-Press” plus 4 more

“Almanac forecasts chilly, wet winter - Evansville Courier-Press” plus 4 more

Almanac forecasts chilly, wet winter - Evansville Courier-Press

Posted: 09 Sep 2009 07:29 AM PDT

It happens every fall, as sure as TV reporters shoot footage of woolly worms crossing a rural road or bees buzz syrupy soft drinks at college football stadiums.

The folks at New Hampshire's Old Farmer's Almanac release yet another edition filled with weather forecasts — chilly and wetter than normal for us this winter — and weird, wacky or whimsical bits of info.

You know the kind: How to use a "mad" stone (found in the gut of a cud-chewing animal) as a home remedy, the return of the push mower, the best way to make a grilled cheese sandwich, the best day for cutting hair or quitting smoking or news of an extraterrestrial visitor in 2010.

Don't be scared, it's only Jupiter, which will be the closest it's been to Earth (367 million miles) in almost half a century.

The $5.99, 250-page Almanac, out on newstands this week or available online at Shop.Almanac.com, reaches 9 million readers and still follows the motto set by founder Robert B. Thomas in 1792: to be "useful, with a pleasant degree of humor."

But it's the weather predictions that spark conversation as leaves turn and frost returns.

So let's go straight to the forecast for Region 7, a narrow band of Ohio Valley stretching from Evansville to Cincinnati and Pittsburgh.

The Almanac says although December will be 4 degrees warmer than normal (39 degree average), overall winter temperatures will be slightly below normal (especially in January and March) while precipitation will be above normal, with near-normal snowfall.

Best chance of snow is late January, mid-February and early March.

April and May 2010 will be much warmer and drier than normal, says the Almanac — great for outdoors activities but raising concerns about summer drought.

Summer 2010 will be cooler than normal and rainfall below normal, especially in the east.

The publication, whose scientists look to the future by looking into the past, bases its forecasts on technology, the solar cycle and what it calls a secret formula.

While claims in the past of an 80 percent accuracy rate were tongue in cheek, a study by the University of Illinois found the Almanac's degree of accuracy couldn't be explained by random chance.

Looking at the bigger picture, the Almanac's staff says their study of the current solar cycle reinforces their belief that over the coming years a gradual cooling of the atmosphere will occur, offset by any warming caused by increased greenhouse gases.

The Almanac also has an Old Farmer's Almanac for Kids, Volume 3, which is aimed at children ages 8 and up, and filled with facts, stories and projects. Go to Almanac4kids.com online.

Leader Of None? Obama's Global Warming Policies Have Few Followers - Post Chronicle

Posted: 09 Sep 2009 05:56 AM PDT

"Few challenges facing America - and the world - are more urgent than combating climate change," President Obama has asserted. "We will make it clear that America is ready to lead."

The President and Al Gore are certainly ready to lead. But how many will follow?

Even in America, and certainly on the world stage, the two increasingly look like Don Quixote and his faithful squire, Sancho Panza. As they tilt for windmills, and against a "monstrous giant of infamous repute" - climate disasters conjured up by computer models and Hollywood special effects masters - their erstwhile followers are making politically correct noises, but running for the hills.

The House of Representatives passed a 1400-page energy and climate bill - by a razor-thin margin, and only after Nancy Pelosi and Henry Waxman packed it with enough last-minute deals to protect favored congressional districts, buy votes, and curry favor with assorted special interests. Not one legislator actually read the bill - which would create a trillion-dollar cap-trade-and-tax industry, ensure that energy and food costs "necessarily skyrocket," kill jobs, and impose an all-intrusive Green Nanny State.

Republicans want to control what people do in their bedrooms, insists the old canard. Democrats, it appears, want to dictate what we do everywhere outside of our bedrooms. And Sancho Gore wants to become the world's first global warming billionaire, by selling climate indulgences, aka carbon offsets.

The reaction has been predictable - by anyone except House and White House czars and czarinas.

Citizens are livid over yet another attempt to use a purported crisis to justify further expanding the government and spending billions more tax dollars for alarmist research, activism and propaganda, just ahead of the Copenhagen climate conference. Global warming continues to rank dead-last in Pew Research and other polls that actually list it as an issue. Rasmussen puts the President's approval ratings at 46% and falling. Zogby reports that 57% of Americans oppose cap-and-trade bills.

Manufacturing states, which get 60-98% of their electricity from coal, worry that the only thing they'll export in ten years will be jobs. Democrat senators from those states worry that the energy and climate issue will be "toxic for them during midterm elections," says Politico magazine.

Even companies that had eagerly sought seats at the negotiating table are now gagging. ConocoPhillips, Caterpillar and others finally realize that cap-and-tax will severely penalize them and their customers.

Not even the climate is cooperating. Outside of Dallas, 2009 has brought some of coldest summer days on record across the US. Near freezing temperatures nipped at crops, and gas heaters were sine qua non at an August 29 outdoor wedding in Wisconsin. The Farmers Almanac predicts a brutal 2009-2010 winter.

In Europe, every longitude has a platitude about saving the planet. But EU countries that agreed to slash greenhouse gas emissions below 1990 levels are well above their Kyoto Protocol targets - Austria by 30% and Spain by 37% as of 2008. And despite new commitments to cut emissions 40 years from now, you don't need tarot cards or entrails to predict the more probable EU emissions future.

Germany plans to build 27 coal-fired electrical generating plants by 2020. Italy plans to double its reliance on coal in just five years. Europe as a whole will have 40 new coal-fired power plants by 2015, columnist Alan Caruba reports. The Polish Academy of Sciences has publicly challenged manmade global warming disaster hypotheses. And only 11% of Czech citizens believe rising carbon dioxide emissions caused global temperatures to climb 1975-1998 - and also caused them to rise 1915-1940, fall 1940-1975, then stabilize and decline again 1998-2009.

Australia just voted down punitive global warming legislation. New Zealand has put its emissions-bashing program in a deep freeze.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's top economic aid bluntly dismissed any talk of following President Obama's quixotic lead. "We won't sacrifice economic growth for the sake of emission reduction," he told reporters at the July 2009 G8 meeting.

Chinese and Indian leaders are equally adamant. China is playing a smart hand in this high-stakes climate poker game, drawing up plans to combat global warming sometime in the future, and gradually improve its energy efficiency and pollution control. However, it is building a new coal-fired power plant every week and putting millions of new cars on its growing network of highways.

So is India, which will double its coal-based electricity generation and produce millions of Tata and other affordable cars by 2020. "India will not accept any binding emission-reduction target, period," Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh has stated. "This is a non-negotiable stand."

India and China have a "complete convergence" of views on these matters, Ramesh added. No wonder: 400 million Indians still do not have electricity; 500 million Chinese still do not.

No electricity means no refrigeration, to keep food and medicines from spoiling. It means no water purification, to reduce baby-killing intestinal diseases. No modern heating and air conditioning, to reduce hypothermia in winter, heat stroke in summer, and lung disease year-round. It means no lights or computers, no modern offices, factories, schools, shops, clinics or hospitals.

Fossil fuels are "gradually eliminating poverty in the Third world," observes UCLA economist Deepak Lal. Any call to curb carbon emissions would "condemn billions to continued poverty. While numerous Western do-gooders shed crocodile tears about the Third World's poor, they are willing to prevent them from taking the only feasible current route out from this abject state" - oil, gas, coal, nuclear and hydroelectric energy development. The situation is intolerable, unsustainable, lethal and immoral.

The only way India and China would agree to cut their emissions is if the United States cut its emissions 40% by 2020, says Ramesh - back to 1959 levels and pre-JFK living standards, when the US population was 179 million (versus 306 million today). No way will that happen. So Asian energy and economic development will continue apace. And rightly so, to foster human rights and environmental justice.

All is not bleak, however, for Canute Obama's impossible dream of controlling global temperatures.

British politicians remain committed to slashing CO2 emissions and replacing hydrocarbons with wind power. Unfortunately, the biggest UK wind projects have been abandoned or put on indefinite hold - and a growing demand/supply imbalance portends still higher energy prices, widespread power cuts, rolling blackouts and energy rationing, the Daily Telegraph reported on August 31. Brits may soon trade their stiff upper lips for contentious town hall meetings and ballot-box revolution.

The Democratic Party of Japan's landslide victory in the August 30 election will likely create a new coalition government tilted strongly to the left. The DJP has pledged to cut carbon dioxide gas emissions 25% below 1990 levels by 2020 - though this will likely strangle economic growth and job creation, especially if one coalition partner's opposition to nuclear power becomes DJP policy.

Then there is Africa, where leaders appear ready to support curbs on energy use - in exchange for up to $300 billion per year in additional foreign aid, "to cushion the impact of global warming." That will be nice for their private bank accounts, but less so for Africa's 750 million people who still don't have electricity. Those people will simply be sacrificed, to prevent natural or fictitious climate disasters.

Of course, the real goal was never to control the climate. It was always to control energy use, lives, jobs, economies, transportation and housing - and usher in a new era of high tax global governance. The American people are increasingly saying they're not ready to grant that power to Obama Gore & Company.

Paul Driessen is senior policy advisor for the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow and Congress of Racial Equality, and author of Eco-Imperialism: Green power - Black death

Old Farmer calls for cold, snow - Walton Tribune

Posted: 09 Sep 2009 04:16 AM PDT

It looks like were headed for a cold winter with a chance for some snow.

But dont take my word for it. Thats according to The 2010 Old Farmers Almanac, which was released Tuesday.

The almanac prides itself on its long-range weather forecasting, claiming a traditional accuracy rate of 80 percent. This year, for the Southeast, it expects temperatures at or just slightly above average until we have a colder-than-normal March.

Even before March, though, the Almanac expects well see snow sometime in mid-January and mid-February.

The Almanac says well have below-average temperatures and wet weather for much of the summer.

Robert B. Thomas started The Old Farmers Almanac in 1792, originally just for the Northeast. Now, it includes data for all parts of the United States and even publishes a Southern Edition with data based on Atlanta.

Have you caught playoff fever yet?

The Gwinnett Braves earned a spot in the International League playoffs and open postseason play today. Even though the Braves hit a late-season swoon that kept them from clinching a division title, Gwinnett fell into the wild card. The first round sees the Scranton-Wilkes Barre Yankees visiting Gwinnett.

It will be like old times to have a Yankees team playing in Georgia with high stakes. Its hard to believe, but it has been 10 years since the New York Yankees swept the Atlanta Braves in the World Series.

Atlanta hasnt been back to the Fall Classic since.

Gwinnett will play host to Scranton-Wilkes Barre at 7 p.m. today and Thursday before series shifts to Pennsylvania.

My hat is off to Tommy Hall and Peggy Wheldon for their success in The Tribunes college football contest.

Businesses that sponsor our annual pigskin contest have a chance to put one representative in our first battle for bragging rights.

Hall, of Gold-N-Pawn in Monroe, picked five of six games correctly last week. Wheldon, our advertising manager, did the same.

I was, to put it diplomatically, less accurate.

We also have a contest for readers each week with a cash prize offered. See for yourself on Page B6.

Sea disasters - Manila Bulleting Online

Posted: 09 Sep 2009 03:12 AM PDT

Editor's note: So far the authorities have only wild guesses to show about the sinking of a ferry with 900 plus passengers, nine of whom died at sea as noted by the author.)

According to notices the authorities will start the formal probe of the sea disaster on September 15, nine days after the sinking of SuperFerry 9 September 6. This is not a homicide or graft investigation that takes weeks or months to unearth.

Seaworthiness and competence This is about seaworthiness and competence of the officers/crew of vessels that transport thousands of passengers daily from island to island, city to city, port to port.

Total safety of passengers and vessels badly requires immediate attention and concern.

America's top selling reference book of all time is The World Almanac. Its 2009 edition has a section on notable disasters at sea since 1854, with figures of estimated deaths.

RP sea disasters For comparison here's a short list of the more tragic sea disasters: 1) April 14-15, 1912, Titanic hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic that drowned 1,503 passengers, 2) April 22, 1980, Don Juan collided with a barge and sank off Mindoro, killing 1,000 plus, 3) December 20, 1987, Doña Paz and Victor, ferry and oil tanker collided near Tablas Strait killing 4,341, and 4) June 23, 2008, Princess of the Stars, ferry capsized during a typhoon, with about 800 killed/missing.

Test questions in Ilonggo?

The board of marine inquiry asked the chief mate of the barge why he made a sudden change in position and collided with Don Juan. He answered in perfect Ilonggo: "Indi ko na matandaan" (I cannot recall it). The board exams for deck officers ask questions in English. How in heaven's name could a deck officer – who spoke Ilonggo only – understand English test questions?

Clear April day

Don Juan sank on an April day when the sea was like oil in a basin. Among the passengers trapped in the ship's cabins were prominent Ilonggos and Negrenses. To this day I can't recall if the barge's officers were stripped of their certificate of competence. One survivor said the bright moon was on his face at the moment of impact.

4,341 deaths

Doña Paz and Victor sailed in December, and the weather could not have caused their collision. The other mystery was: Why the 4,341 deaths?

Gamble with a typhoon

Princess of the Stars, with its huge hull now towering above water in Romblon, has not been salvaged – to return to service again. The vessel's officers tried their best to outguess the weather and the typhoon named Frank. At its best it was a judgment call or the formation of an opinion, estimate or conclusion based on personal observation – that gambled away hundreds of passengers' lives.

Still wondering?

SuperFerry 9 sank last Sunday and as of Wednesday morning (Sept. 9) all the authorities – Navy, Coast Guard, Marina and related agencies – have no specific idea if the sinking was caused by an accident, hole/fissures in the hull and other faults, but they announced a board of inquiry would be convened Sept. 15 to find out what really happened.

If there's a hole/fissure in the hull then what caused it. This can be answered in a matter of hours, not days or weeks, from Sunday, September 6.

Oil slick or spill?

According to an MB report the Navy found an oil sheen or spill measuring about one nautical mile (1.852 km) wide and four nautical miles (7.4 km) long within the vicinity of the ferry that sank.

But there's one certainty we can guess: Most interisland passenger/cargo vessels plying between Mindanao and the Visayas and Luzon are of the reconditioned variety long retired by shipowners in our progressive and wealthy neighbors north of Manila.

Basement bargain price

Buying reconditioned vessels at basement-bargain price has disadvantages to RP shipping. The process of reconditioning them requires the presence of Filipino experts at all times, not just a visit to the shipyard. Buying vessels 10 to 20 years old requires a lot less than acquiring shiny ones.

Failure to inspect

Old/ancient vessels are made of steel, but have you ever heard of trite term called metal fatigue? Hulls and old engines may not stand the stress of navigation over a long period, say 15 to 30 years.

Another proper question: Have the authorities regularly inspected old/reconditioned ships to determine seaworthiness, especially in a country visited by 20 or more storms yearly, particularly in June, July, August and September?

Determining competence after the fact Have the same authorities strictly supervised the competence and trustworthiness of deck/engine-room officers? A few passengers of the ill-fated voyage reported having heard a loud sound, not an explosion ruling out terrorist attack.

Bad habits

It's a bad routine habit in this country that regulators try to outdo each other to ask shipowners to issue a show-cause order prohibiting the firm's other vessels from sailing. Agencies will also audit the firm's fleet to know: Seaworthiness of ships and competence, after the fact or as an afterthought.

But news readers, viewers and radio listeners cannot understand this announcement – investigation of the sinking and its cause will start on September 15 pa. (Comments are welcome at roming@pefianco.com)

Quickly for Sept. 9 - Post-Tribune

Posted: 09 Sep 2009 02:14 AM PDT


We already have the government in our health care. It's called Medicare. It's not going away. We might as well work together to make it the best we can make it.. .

Kids are so mean to each other because the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. They learn from their parents.. .

Carrol Vertrees is again right on the mark. His column alone justifies the purchase price of the paper. I used to look at the obituaries first, but now I turn to Carrol Vertrees. He writes about happy times ... happy things and hope.. .

The family reunion was a total success. Oh, by the way, you not being there is what made it so successful.. .

Have we not forgot that on 9/11, George Bush Jr. was sitting in front of a classroom in front of students, talking to them? Let's be fair about it and stop complaining. It's OK for President Obama to speak to children.. .

Does anyone know how to get rid of a cricket in your garage? Your thoughts would be appreciated.. .

Now that the Farmers' Almanac has predicted another rough winter for our area, do you think that our local towns and cities will start to stockpile road salt so we don't have a repeat of last winters dangerous road conditions?. .

Health care insurance premiums have risen almost 120% in the last 10 years. Your auto insurance premium only risen about 11% over the last three years. . .

To the person complaining about all the people dying from smoking, you really need to do your homework, and look how many people are dying from staph infections in the hospital every year: 1.5 million. That's a problem.. .

Mr. President, with all due respect, keep your nose out of our children's education. The Education Department and the teachers -- God bless them -- are doing a wonderful job. You don't need to put your nose in where it does not belong.. .

I see that racism is still alive in this place that we live in.

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