http://www.cjonline.com/news/local/2009-09-20/earth_approaching_sunspot_records
Earth approaching sunspot records
Solar activity may be linked to cooler temperatures, scientist says
BY COREY JONES
Created September 20, 2009 at 6:21pm
The average person doesn't associate coolness with the sun.
The sun releases energy through deep nuclear fusion reactions in its core and has surface temperatures as hot as 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit, according to NASA's Web site.
Not cool at all.
But the sun's recent activity, or lack thereof, may be linked to the pleasant summer temperatures the midwest has enjoyed this year, said Charlie Perry, a research hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Lawrence.
The sun is at a low point of a deep solar minimum in which there are little to no sunspots on its surface.
In July through August, 51 consecutive days passed without a spot, one day short of tying the record of 52 days from the early 1900s.
As of Sept. 15, the current solar minimum ranks third all-time in the amount of spotless days with 717 since 2004. There have been 206 spotless days in 2009, which is 14th all-time. But there are still more than 100 days left in the year, and Perry expects that number to climb.
Perry, who studies sunspots and solar activity in his spare time, received an undergraduate degree in physics at Kansas State University and a Ph.D in physics and astronomy at The University of Kansas. He also has spent time as a meteorologist.
A sunspot, Perry explains, is a location on the sun's surface that is cooler than the surrounding area. When there are more sunspots, the sun's surface becomes more dynamic and an opposite effect takes place, releasing more heat and energy when other parts of the sun become hotter.
A solar minimum is when the amount of spots on the sun is at a low and the reverse is true for a solar maximum. The complete solar cycle is about an 11-year process. Perry says the current solar minimum could continue into 2010.
"There's a fair chance it will be a cooler winter than last year," Perry said.
Perry said there is a feeling from some in the scientific community the Earth may be entering into a grand minimum, which is an extended period with low numbers of sunspots that creates cooler temperatures. The year without a summer, which was 1816, was during a grand minimum in 1800 to 1830 when Europe became cooler, Perry said. Another grand minimum was in 1903 to 1913.
Perry said there is anecdotal evidence the Earth's temperature may be slightly decreasing, but local weather patterns are much more affected by the jet stream than solar activity.
However, Perry said snow in Buenos Aires and southern Africa, the best ski season in Australia and a cooler Arctic region are some of the anecdotal evidence for a cooling period.
So, Perry said, sunspots may have a far greater impact on weather than previously thought.
Perry is a proponent of the cosmic ray and clouds theory as opposed to the CO2 global warming theory to explain recent global warming trends.
The cosmic ray and clouds theory was first put forth in the late 1990's by Danish physicist Henrik Svensmark.
In a July 2007 issue of Discover magazine, Svensmark said the theory is simply that solar activity can alter the amount of clouds in the atmosphere, which affects the temperature of the Earth. More clouds mean a cooler Earth because more of the sun's heat is being reflected. Fewer clouds equal a warmer Earth.
Perry says data indicates global temperature fluctuations correlate to a statistically significant degree with the length of the sunspot cycle. Longer cycles are associated with cooler temperatures.
Johan Feddema, acting chair and professor of geography at KU, studies global warming. Atmospheric science is a program in geography at KU. He says he is skeptical of any one phenomenon being the direct cause of global warming because there are so many climate variables that factor into global temperatures.
Freddema said the warming trend earlier in the century could be attributed to anything from solar activity to El Ninos.
For more information or to view graphs of data pertaining to global climate change, Freddema recommends visiting the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Web site at www.ipcc.ch/ where 2007 assessment reports on climate change can be viewed. He also recommends the Wikipedia entry on solar variation for good visual graphs of data.
Perry said he recommends www.icecap.us/ for climate information; www.discovermagazine.com to learn more about Svensmark's theory; www.global-warming-and-the-climate.com/images/sunspot-lenght-&-teperatur... to view a global temperature and solar activity graph; and his own research Web page at ks.water.usgs.gov/waterdata/climate/.
Corey Jones can be reached at (785) 295-5612 or corey.jones@cjonline.com.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Sunday, September 20, 2009
My Take On The Healthcare Situation In America
What exactly is so bad about our healthcare system? An individual can purchase an HMO plan for around $1,500 a year or a family can purchase HMO plan for around $3,000 a year which entitles you to the best healthcare available in any country on the planet earth with little to no co-pay. Those that don't have insurance are still provided with free healthcare when needed because Federal Law requires that all hospitals must provide emergency care to anyone that comes within 250 yards of an emergency room regardless of ability or willingness to pay. America also has an extensive system of low or no cost community healthcare centers and free healthcare clinics that provide even the basic services such as annual exams for free or sliding scale costs. Heck...Over $1,000 are spent annually on charity care for every man, woman and child that is uninsured in America (that’s over $45 billion annually). The U.S. even allows “compassionate entry” permission to Mexican citizens in border towns that need medical assistance, in which they are picked up by ambulance at the border and transported to emergency rooms in American hospitals to receive free healthcare.
Not that there are even that many people that are truly un-insured in America. Democrats claim there are 45 million uninsured but for a better look at the numbers check out www.freemarketcure.com and you will see that only about 18 million out of the 307,481,017 (http://www.census.gov/ ) Americans are truly uninsured. Less than 6% of Americans! I will break down the rest for you at the bottom of this email and you can see that the others are able to afford or receive health insurance but CHOOSE not to on their own. (see below). And keep in mind that every nation has a group of people that refuse to participate in society or take responsibility for their own wellbeing. They wouldn’t comply even if our government attempted to force them to receive regular healthcare.
Not to mention that putting our basic needs into the hands of the government (which is corrupt and doesn't care about us and refuse to even be on this same plan they are proposing for us because they know it is garbage) is extremely dangerous. Look at every program the government has been in charge of. Public education...in shambles, post office...like $13 billion in debt this year and they gave raises to all their upper execs, Retirement (social security), medicaid, medicare, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (mortgage companies)...all VERY in debt and failing. Now look at the private owned alternatives...private schools = great!, Fed-Ex or UPS=doing great, private retirement accounts like ROTH IRA's or 401K's...just fine! If there is a problem it is because the government is involved (bought off to place regulations) and they best way to fix it is to REMOVE government not add more government to it!
This isn't the first time that gov't. interference had a negative impact. We all know that this economic crisis began with Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Gov't. tells us they needed to be regulated and we believe it. In reality, it was gov't. involvement that CAUSED the crisis. Fannie and Freddie were gov't. subsidized and knew full well that when the Clinton Admin. began pushing them to make risky loans, they went right on ahead with it knowing full well that they would be bailed out if needed. If gov't. wasn't in the picture, they wouldn't have made those risky loans because they wouldn't have had the safety net and would have gone out of business. Our gov't. involvement in the private sector had and continues to ruin this country that was founded on the principles of the free-market and Laissez Faire Capitalism. Coincidentally, were you surprised to find out that they paid Obama, and Hillary, and Chris Dowd and the democrats a ton of money. If you want exact amounts paid to each candidate I have them and would be happy to send them to you). They were bought off! Big surprise!
Another example...the Cash for Clunkers program: The gov't. took $2.88 billion from us in taxes to fund this program and is paying $1.22 billion to the dealers?! Where is the rest of the money going?! And we want to trust them with our healthcare?! Why do people insist on trusting government when it has always been the same through Republican and Demcrat! STOP putting your basic needs in the hands of shady people that don't care about you.
All that and if you really have a problem with insurance yet...keep in mind that the reason insurance is so high right now is BECAUSE of the government. They have been bought off by the insurance companies and currently there are regulations that only allow us to purchase insurance from the company in our state, so they have no competition and jack up their prices and we have to pay what they ask if we want coverage. If they would remove regulations and allow the competition between the insurance companies (so we could all buy insurance from ANY company in ANY state) you may see prices come down and quality go up so they have to compete for our business. So if government involvement is the reason for the current problem, how will MORE gov't. involvement help the situation?
They couldn't even make universal healthcare just for Children in one state (Hawaii) last more than 7 months because it went bankrupt and left all the kids without insurance...it will be impossible and destructive and dangerous. If you think healthcare is expensive now...just wait until it's "free"! ;-) I agree we need reform on healthcare but we need to do the OPPOSITE of putting our gov't. in charge of it. We need to free up the gov't. involvement, remove regulation and allow competition. I have some good reading material I can send you if you want on how to fix it up.
BTW...They say our economy is improving after spending only $68 billion of the $780 billion they took from us in taxes to stimulate the economy...do you think we're gonna get the rest of that money back?
I've got tons of horror stories of national healthcare from Canada and England and France. The doctors all leave to where they can make more money and aren't controlled by the government. The program starts going bankrupt just like social security and all of our other government run programs so they try to prolong it by raising taxes for it and decreasing benefits. First they say they won't cover vision or dental and then annual check ups and then cancer screenings and pretty soon they tell you that you are too old or terminaly sick anyway so they won't pay the money to help you. SCARY! They are already doing it with social security here. They have raised taxes for it, cut benefits and want to raise the retirement age. The same will happen with healthcare just like in every other country that tried it and like with every other program that our government has tried to run.
Bryan
Here is a good breakdown of the un-insured in America from www.freemarketcure.com
Who are the Uninsured in America?
45 million Americans without health insurance?
• 17 million (38%) live in households with an annual income of $50,000+
• 9 million (20%) live in households with an annual income of $75,000+
1. They choose not to spend their money on insurance even though they can afford it.
• 14 million (31%) are eligible for government healthcare programs such as Medicaid but choose not to enroll.
1. Over $1,000 are spent annually on charity care for every man, woman and child that is
uninsured in America (that’s over $45 billion annually).
2. America has an extensive system of low or no cost community healthcare centers and free
healthcare clinics that provide even the basic services such as annual exams for free or
sliding scale costs.
• 14 million (31%) are illegal immigrants but still receive free charity care.
1. The U.S. even allows “compassionate entry” permission to Mexican citizens in border towns
that need medical assistance, in which they are picked up by ambulance at the border and
transported to emergency rooms in American hospitals to receive free healthcare.
• 18 million (40%) are ages 18-34 and spend more than 400% more on alcohol, tobacco, entertainment and dining than on out of pocket expenses for healthcare.
1. All are treated if needed, but few ever pay.
2. Federal Law requires that all hospitals must provide emergency care to anyone that comes
within 250 yards of an emergency room regardless of ability or willingness to pay.
• 8 million (18%) of the 45 million are truly uninsured.
1. NOTE: Every nation has a group of people that refuse to participate in society or take
responsibility for their own wellbeing. They wouldn’t comply even if our government
attempted to force them to receive regular healthcare.
Not that there are even that many people that are truly un-insured in America. Democrats claim there are 45 million uninsured but for a better look at the numbers check out www.freemarketcure.com and you will see that only about 18 million out of the 307,481,017 (http://www.census.gov/ ) Americans are truly uninsured. Less than 6% of Americans! I will break down the rest for you at the bottom of this email and you can see that the others are able to afford or receive health insurance but CHOOSE not to on their own. (see below). And keep in mind that every nation has a group of people that refuse to participate in society or take responsibility for their own wellbeing. They wouldn’t comply even if our government attempted to force them to receive regular healthcare.
Not to mention that putting our basic needs into the hands of the government (which is corrupt and doesn't care about us and refuse to even be on this same plan they are proposing for us because they know it is garbage) is extremely dangerous. Look at every program the government has been in charge of. Public education...in shambles, post office...like $13 billion in debt this year and they gave raises to all their upper execs, Retirement (social security), medicaid, medicare, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (mortgage companies)...all VERY in debt and failing. Now look at the private owned alternatives...private schools = great!, Fed-Ex or UPS=doing great, private retirement accounts like ROTH IRA's or 401K's...just fine! If there is a problem it is because the government is involved (bought off to place regulations) and they best way to fix it is to REMOVE government not add more government to it!
This isn't the first time that gov't. interference had a negative impact. We all know that this economic crisis began with Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Gov't. tells us they needed to be regulated and we believe it. In reality, it was gov't. involvement that CAUSED the crisis. Fannie and Freddie were gov't. subsidized and knew full well that when the Clinton Admin. began pushing them to make risky loans, they went right on ahead with it knowing full well that they would be bailed out if needed. If gov't. wasn't in the picture, they wouldn't have made those risky loans because they wouldn't have had the safety net and would have gone out of business. Our gov't. involvement in the private sector had and continues to ruin this country that was founded on the principles of the free-market and Laissez Faire Capitalism. Coincidentally, were you surprised to find out that they paid Obama, and Hillary, and Chris Dowd and the democrats a ton of money. If you want exact amounts paid to each candidate I have them and would be happy to send them to you). They were bought off! Big surprise!
Another example...the Cash for Clunkers program: The gov't. took $2.88 billion from us in taxes to fund this program and is paying $1.22 billion to the dealers?! Where is the rest of the money going?! And we want to trust them with our healthcare?! Why do people insist on trusting government when it has always been the same through Republican and Demcrat! STOP putting your basic needs in the hands of shady people that don't care about you.
All that and if you really have a problem with insurance yet...keep in mind that the reason insurance is so high right now is BECAUSE of the government. They have been bought off by the insurance companies and currently there are regulations that only allow us to purchase insurance from the company in our state, so they have no competition and jack up their prices and we have to pay what they ask if we want coverage. If they would remove regulations and allow the competition between the insurance companies (so we could all buy insurance from ANY company in ANY state) you may see prices come down and quality go up so they have to compete for our business. So if government involvement is the reason for the current problem, how will MORE gov't. involvement help the situation?
They couldn't even make universal healthcare just for Children in one state (Hawaii) last more than 7 months because it went bankrupt and left all the kids without insurance...it will be impossible and destructive and dangerous. If you think healthcare is expensive now...just wait until it's "free"! ;-) I agree we need reform on healthcare but we need to do the OPPOSITE of putting our gov't. in charge of it. We need to free up the gov't. involvement, remove regulation and allow competition. I have some good reading material I can send you if you want on how to fix it up.
BTW...They say our economy is improving after spending only $68 billion of the $780 billion they took from us in taxes to stimulate the economy...do you think we're gonna get the rest of that money back?
I've got tons of horror stories of national healthcare from Canada and England and France. The doctors all leave to where they can make more money and aren't controlled by the government. The program starts going bankrupt just like social security and all of our other government run programs so they try to prolong it by raising taxes for it and decreasing benefits. First they say they won't cover vision or dental and then annual check ups and then cancer screenings and pretty soon they tell you that you are too old or terminaly sick anyway so they won't pay the money to help you. SCARY! They are already doing it with social security here. They have raised taxes for it, cut benefits and want to raise the retirement age. The same will happen with healthcare just like in every other country that tried it and like with every other program that our government has tried to run.
Bryan
Here is a good breakdown of the un-insured in America from www.freemarketcure.com
Who are the Uninsured in America?
45 million Americans without health insurance?
• 17 million (38%) live in households with an annual income of $50,000+
• 9 million (20%) live in households with an annual income of $75,000+
1. They choose not to spend their money on insurance even though they can afford it.
• 14 million (31%) are eligible for government healthcare programs such as Medicaid but choose not to enroll.
1. Over $1,000 are spent annually on charity care for every man, woman and child that is
uninsured in America (that’s over $45 billion annually).
2. America has an extensive system of low or no cost community healthcare centers and free
healthcare clinics that provide even the basic services such as annual exams for free or
sliding scale costs.
• 14 million (31%) are illegal immigrants but still receive free charity care.
1. The U.S. even allows “compassionate entry” permission to Mexican citizens in border towns
that need medical assistance, in which they are picked up by ambulance at the border and
transported to emergency rooms in American hospitals to receive free healthcare.
• 18 million (40%) are ages 18-34 and spend more than 400% more on alcohol, tobacco, entertainment and dining than on out of pocket expenses for healthcare.
1. All are treated if needed, but few ever pay.
2. Federal Law requires that all hospitals must provide emergency care to anyone that comes
within 250 yards of an emergency room regardless of ability or willingness to pay.
• 8 million (18%) of the 45 million are truly uninsured.
1. NOTE: Every nation has a group of people that refuse to participate in society or take
responsibility for their own wellbeing. They wouldn’t comply even if our government
attempted to force them to receive regular healthcare.
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
Track Record Of American Gov't. Programs
The U.S. Post Service was established in 1775 - they've had 234 years to get it right; it is broke, and even though heavily subsidized, it can't compete with private sector FedEx and UPS services.
Social Security was established in 1935 - they've had 74 years to get it right; it is broke.
Fannie Mae was established in 1938 - they've had 71 years to get it right; it is broke. Freddie Mac was established in 1970 - they've had 39 years to get it right; it is broke. Together Fannie and Freddie have now led the entire world into the worst economic collapse in 80 years.
The War on Poverty was started in 1964 - they've had 45 years to get it right; $1 trillion of our hard earned money is confiscated each year and transferred to "the poor"; it hasn't worked.
Medicare and Medicaid were established in 1965 - they've had 44 years to get it right; they are both broke; and now our government dares to mention them as models for all US health care.
AMTRAK was established in 1970 - they've had 39 years to get it right; last year they bailed it out as it continues to run at a loss!
This year, a trillion dollars was committed in the massive political payoff called the Stimulus Bill of 2009; it shows NO sign of working; it's been used to increase the size of governments across America , and raise government salaries while the rest of us suffer from economic hardships. It has yet to create a single new private sector job. Our national debt projections (approaching $10 trillion) have increased 400% in the last six months.
"Cash for Clunkers" was established in 2009 and went broke in 2009 - - after 80% of the cars purchased turned out to be produced by foreign companies, and dealers nationwide are buried under bureaucratic
paperwork demanded by a government that is not yet paying them what was promised.
So with a perfect 100% failure rate and a record that proves that each and every "service" shoved down our throats by an over-reaching government turns into disaster, how could any informed American trust our government to run or even set policies for America 's health care system - - 17% of our economy?
Maybe each of us has a personal responsibility to let others in on this brilliant record before 2010, and then help remove from office those who are voting to destroy capitalism and destroy our grandchildren's future.
I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labours of the people under the pretence of taking care of them. -- Thomas Jefferson
Social Security was established in 1935 - they've had 74 years to get it right; it is broke.
Fannie Mae was established in 1938 - they've had 71 years to get it right; it is broke. Freddie Mac was established in 1970 - they've had 39 years to get it right; it is broke. Together Fannie and Freddie have now led the entire world into the worst economic collapse in 80 years.
The War on Poverty was started in 1964 - they've had 45 years to get it right; $1 trillion of our hard earned money is confiscated each year and transferred to "the poor"; it hasn't worked.
Medicare and Medicaid were established in 1965 - they've had 44 years to get it right; they are both broke; and now our government dares to mention them as models for all US health care.
AMTRAK was established in 1970 - they've had 39 years to get it right; last year they bailed it out as it continues to run at a loss!
This year, a trillion dollars was committed in the massive political payoff called the Stimulus Bill of 2009; it shows NO sign of working; it's been used to increase the size of governments across America , and raise government salaries while the rest of us suffer from economic hardships. It has yet to create a single new private sector job. Our national debt projections (approaching $10 trillion) have increased 400% in the last six months.
"Cash for Clunkers" was established in 2009 and went broke in 2009 - - after 80% of the cars purchased turned out to be produced by foreign companies, and dealers nationwide are buried under bureaucratic
paperwork demanded by a government that is not yet paying them what was promised.
So with a perfect 100% failure rate and a record that proves that each and every "service" shoved down our throats by an over-reaching government turns into disaster, how could any informed American trust our government to run or even set policies for America 's health care system - - 17% of our economy?
Maybe each of us has a personal responsibility to let others in on this brilliant record before 2010, and then help remove from office those who are voting to destroy capitalism and destroy our grandchildren's future.
I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labours of the people under the pretence of taking care of them. -- Thomas Jefferson
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