Maybe We Should go to the Experts First... Global Warming

Graph to left shows the natural and anthropogenic (human) contributions of greenhouse gases. Keep in mind the error bars and experts do not yet know the exact emission.

-Also note how interestingly, aerosols do negative damage, so cleaning up the air actually will contribute to global warming...

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So where did this sudden interest and research come from?

Just got back from my OSLEP class at Oklahoma University... on the class 'PaleoPerspective on Climate Change'

• Oklahoma Scholar-Leadership Enrichment Program

I loved it so much!

I learned more than I could ever write on a blog! But I feel I must share some :)

To be honest, My previous views:

• anthropogentic forcing of greenhouse gases was completely made up
• geologists and paleontologists just haven't studied Earth's fluctuating climate history enough to see that this cycle is normal!

Current views:

• non-bias research proves me completely wrong :)
• global warming is taking place
• Temperatures have always fluctuated dramatically throughout Earth's history
• rise is CO2 emission is dramatic as well as direct increase in temperature
• Earth will be fine with global warming
• some animals will adapt
• some animals will migrate
• some animals will die
• that's life
• However, how uncomfortable will humans be with global warming
• Rate at which global warming is occuring is quite scary if you allow yourself to research it and not shut down in disbelief because of what some people have said on it
• I'm not an expert or even have a valid logical opinion unless I've thoroughly researched the topic and submitted my views to professionals.

What the Experts Say
I've learned that the majority, and I'm saying conservatively at least 95% of the experts in paleontology, geology, etc [not meteorologists... I realized how ignorant (meaning this as pleasantly as possible) they are about climate change believe it or not] are not the ones who mark this proposal as invalid.
It is actually the general public who is influenced by the media (particularly business, economical, and political views).
May I remind you, these are not the people who have even opened their minds to doing research on this matter or have any scientific background at all.

Albedo Effect
The main way of explaining global warming to me was the albedo effect, also known as reflection coefficient

• This is the amount of electromagnetic radiation that reflects away, compared to the amount that gets absorbed; The lower the albedo, the more radiation from the Sun that gets absorbed by the planet, and temperatures will rise. If the albedo is higher, and the Earth is more reflective, more of the radiation is returned to space, and the planet cools.cite

Earth is Always Changing
It is true that the Earth's climate has always and will always change.
However, the recent rise in temperature has direct correlation with the rise in CO2 in the Earth's atmosphere. I am also saying that the rise in greenhouse gas should not be blamed solely human actions. For instance, methane and water vapor are a greenhouse gas with water vapor being the most abundant and methane being very 'concentrated' and very effective in small amounts.

Gas	Formula	Contribution (%)
Water Vapor	H2O	36 – 72 %
Carbon Dioxide	CO2	9 – 26 %
Methane	CH4	4 – 9 %
Ozone	O3	3 – 7 %  cite

• For example, cows belches (not farts actually) produce a good chunk of the methane in the atmosphere.
• The 30 million bison roaming the Great Plains are estimated to have released 46 Tg CO2e enteric methane emissions annually (3), compared to the 140 Tg CO2e methane released in 2008 by U.S. beef and dairy cattle (about 85% of which are grazing at any particular point in time, the rest are in feedlots) (5). cite
• Another interesting part is the population of cows increased as the American Bison became instinct, largely by human efforts.
• Interestingly, people say that water vapor is the most abundant and is in far greater excess than our CO2 contributions so we're not actually making a big difference. But water vapor increases at temperature increases.
• The Clausius-Clapeyron relation establishes that air can hold more water vapor per unit volume when it warms. This and other basic principles indicate that warming associated with increased concentrations of the other greenhouse gases also will increase the concentration of water vapor. Because water vapor is a greenhouse gas this results in further warming, a "positive feedback" that amplifies the original warming. This positive feedback does not result in runaway global warming because it is offset by other processes that induce negative feedbacks, which stabilize average global temperatures. cite

There's not just one area to blame
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The IPCC
The IPCC, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is a very conservative organization despite what some say. Below is the desciption on their website.

• It was established by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) to provide the world with a clear scientific view on the current state of knowledge in climate change and its potential environmental and socio-economic impacts.
• Thousands of scientists from all over the world contribute to the work of the IPCC on a voluntary basis.
• Review is an essential part of the IPCC process, to ensure an objective and complete assessment of current information. IPCC aims to reflect a range of views and expertise.

• The IPCC is an intergovernmental body. It is open to all member countries of the United Nations (UN) and WMO. Currently 194 countries are members of the IPCC.
• Governments participate in the review process and the plenary Sessions, where main decisions about the IPCC work programme are taken and reports are accepted, adopted and approved. The IPCC Bureau Members, including the Chair, are also elected during the plenary Sessions.

• The work of the organization is therefore policy-relevant and yet policy-neutral, never policy-prescriptive.
• All IPCC reports must be endorsed by the Panel during a Working Group or a Plenary Session. There are three levels of endorsement:

1. "Approval" means that the material has been subjected to line by line discussion and agreement. It is the procedure used for the Summary for Policymakers of the Reports.
2. "Adoption" is a process of endorsement section by section. It is used for the Synthesis Report and overview chapters of Methodology Reports.
3. "Acceptance" signifies that the material has not been subject to line by line nor section by section discussion and agreement, but nevertheless presents a comprehensive, objective and balanced view of the subject matter.

• The preparation of Assessment reports, Special reports and Methodology reports follows the same procedures. Simplified procedures apply to Technical papers.

This doesn't even begin to explain the work that goes into publishing reports from the IPCC. Literally, the comittee goes through each submitted research paper LINE BY LINE and the reports are discussed WORD BY WORD.
Members have to agree and take a VERY conservative stance, for instance, their 'likehood of occurrence' range is:

Likelihood Terminology	Likelihood of the occurrence/ outcome
Virtually certain	> 99% probability
Extremely likely	> 95% probability
Very likely	> 90% probability
Likely	> 66% probability
More likely than not	> 50% probability
About as likely as not	33 to 66% probability
Unlikely	< 33% probability
Very unlikely	< 10% probability
Extremely unlikely	< 5% probability
Exceptionally unlikely	< 1% probability

Basically, if the IPCC reports state something, it has virtually been agreed upon by the leading experts and most sound research in the relevant fields.

Below are some of the IPCC reports:
In the 2007 IPCC report (most recent), the following statements were made:

IPCC on Current Warming Trends

• The average surface temperature of the Earth is likely to increase by 2 to 11.5°F (1.1-6.4°C) by the end of the 21st century, relative to 1980-1990, with a best estimate of 3.2 to 7.2°F (1.8-4.0°C) (see Figure 1). The average rate of warming over each inhabited continent is very likely to be at least twice as large as that experienced during the 20th century.
• Warming will not be evenly distributed around the globe (see Figure 2):
• Land areas will warm more than oceans in part due to water's ability to store heat.
• High latitudes will warm more than low latitudes in part due to positive feedback effects from melting ice (as discussed above).
• Most of North America; all of Africa, Europe, northern and central Asia; and most of Central and South America are likely to warm more than the global average. Projections suggest that the warming will be close to the global average in south Asia, Australia and New Zealand, and southern South America.
• The warming will differ by season, with winters warming more than summers in most areas.
• For additional explanatory information about some of the projected spatial and seasonal differences in warming, see the NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) fact sheet "Patterns of Global Warming" (PDF, 1 pp., 15 KB, About PDF)
• Eleven of the twelve years in the period (1995–2006) rank among the top 12 warmest years in the instrumental record (since 1850, towards the end of the Little Ice Age).

IPCC on Hurricanes

• There has been an increase in hurricane intensity in the North Atlantic since the 1970s, and that increase correlates with increases in sea surface temperature.
• The observed increase in hurricane intensity is larger than climate models predict for the sea surface temperature changes we have experienced.

Below shows different expected rise of CO2 with the orange line showing the rate if CO2 emission stopped now: cite

The projected temperature change cite

What about Nature??
Natural processes have also contributed right? Yes... but interestingly, nature usually has a negative effect on temperature. The graph below demonstrates this very well:

As you can see, greenhouse gas is rising as temperature is rising, at about the same time as volcanic activity, for example is helping us in terms of abrupt climate change although this is still happening very quickly!










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This graph shows that yes, CO2 was being emitted in the very distant past, but the anthropogenic forced increase is literally off the charts
















This is just the beginning of all there is to say, but I wanted to share my contributions... I made a wikipedia page with 2 other group members, please read :) Effects of Climate Change on Terrestrial Animals
Remember, people can change my page at any time, so I hope what you read is my work :)

And kids will roam... Baby locked in bank vault

I just read this story and it freaked me out... I couldn't imagine feeling this helpless.

A 14-month old baby girl was locked in a bank vault in a branch of Wells Fargo.
An empoyee's grandchild was mistakenly locked in the vault after the mother of the child allowed the baby to roam around the bank.

The family realized the child was locked into the bank vault after an unsuccessful search for the girl throughout the bank. The family rushed to the camera television to confirm.

First responders had to pump in fresh air into the vents of the vault for the small child. Her cries were heard outside the doors.

Three hours later, the child was rescued.

Beautiful Science Visualizations

HIV Virus
Beautiful image, but horrible reality

AraNet
Genome-wide Gene Function Association Network for small flowering plant Arabidopsis thaliana
-artists mapped the links between functioning genes in technicolor

T4 Bacteriophage
Bacteriophages are viruses that inject their genomic information into bacteria. This particular image is of the enterobacteria phage T4.
I was surprised how much this looked like the illustrations in textbooks

Tomato Seed Hairs
Tiny hairs on tomato seeds called trichomes secrete goo that hydrate seed and help seed plants and not blow away

'I Will Earn It Back'... Risky Investments

 Lottery Ticket

• Current odds of winning grand prize on US lottery ticket is         ~ 1/ 195,000,000
• Practical tip: Saving $25/ week for 40 years will save                 ~ $250,000
• Saving $50/ week for 40 years will save ~$1,000,000

 Collectibles

• It's not about how much it's worth but rather if someone will buy it... Is there a market for it?
• "Collect for the Love, Not for the Money. Get that car outta the garage and drive it!"

 Precious Metals

•  In 2010, gold reached the same price it held in 1980
• 'You pay money to hold the asset and it's not going to give you an income'

 Cash Value Life Insurance

• Term insurance vs Cash Value Life Insurance
• Term insure =  pay a premium, and upon the death of the insured person, you collect money
• Cash Value Life Insurance = money paid for premiums is placed into an account that is supposed to earn income
• but 'These policies can cost up to eight times more than term policies that offer the same coverage. Sometimes projections of potential earnings are inflated. Also, companies generally charge fees to administer the accounts. All in all, a term insurance policy may be a safer bet.'

 Timeshares

• Relaxing on the beach and you hear the lingering salesman saying 'you can have all this, whenever you want at an unbelievably low cost... just come with me to a meeting, we'll even pay you $100 to attend, and how about a free boat ride too?'
• If you really are committed to return often, okay... if the rates are comparable to booking on your own
• Don't plan on selling the trips for a profit

 Art

• Must secure, insure, and store it
• No guarantee people with money will love it too
• 'Luc Renneboog, a Dutch professor of corporate finance, analyzed recorded art trades from 1951 to 2007. He found that art appreciated about 4 percent each year -- far less than other types of investments'

 Bank Accounts

• "'The general answer in the academic world is that the riskiest investment of all is the bank account,' Grable says. He points out that the interest will never outstrip increases in the cost of living. 'Rising prices keep people from accumulating wealth. Your biggest fear as an investor should be keeping up with the cost of living. Banks are not your friend.'"

 Investment Pitched as 'Sure Thing'

• Make sure the company/fund has had a 'bad year'
• 'Pitches for these types of investment opportunities often appear when the stock market is faltering; salesmen look for investors who are wary of losses in the stock market, and they show numbers to build confidence.'
• 'If you start feeling scared or greedy, step back and wait to commit your cash.'

Quotes and Info from: 10 Risky Investments

[Foreseeable Future] transparent TV, incredibly modern subway, robot farming, crazy flip phone

"Designed to work in the year 2020 AD, this tractor will work on an Earth in turmoil, one with 'searing daytime temperatures' and harsh climate conditions for all. Hydrogen fuel based engines and embedded Nano systems rule the day, and a need arises for the common farmer to reprise his and her role."

Balls of Farming Fury

"Innovative door-lit graphics, iconography to indicate status and time, and the tree referenced hand rails for passengers of all heights intimate a more user-friendly train.

The interior has a warm, almost organic feel. Materials like cork, rich woods and adaptive lighting make the Inspiro one of the most comfortable and eco-friendly trains to ride. Good news is Siemens just received an order for one in Poland. Not sure when construction starts but I’m already anxious to ride it."
Poland of all places is the first to order this?!
If BMW designed Rails

"Michael explains, 'As the first of its kind, the Loewe Invisio introduces technical innovation, combining conventional LCD and the latest TOLED display technology. This allows to create non-transparent / solid moving pictures with rich color reproduction and full contrast range from solid black to pristine white.'”

Transparent TV

"106,000 aluminum cans are discarded every 30 seconds in the United States. Efforts to recycle the mounting heaps have met with mild success so Haoshi Studio in cooperation with PLA Studio have created a new kind of can called TIN CAN. It’s made of PLA yet it’s fully insulated and can be heated up to 110ºF. It even squishes like an aluminum can except it’s 100% organic and biodegradable."

New Kind of Aluminum Can

One wants green tea, other wants rasberry tea... only make one pot :)
Tea for Two

22″ screen, keyboard, touchpad, speakers and a digital tablet
Tablet displays your writing or drawing so there's no need to have to look up at the screen
All-in-one computer

Flexible shave, no charging necessary

Shave with Flick of Finger

Bath/Shower Combo, great for small bathrooms

"Underwater jets, massagers and programmable sequences ensure the most relaxing bathing experience"

Futuristic Tub

When you receive a call, dog-ear flips up

Sleep cover to protect phone

New Flip Phone

I WANT TO LIVE HERE!

It's like camping in complete luxury

I would love living 'in nature' like this :)

Vaccination Against Cocaine

A new vaccine that is known have antibodies catch the molecules of cocaine before they reach the brain. It is shown that it does not catch all the cocaine, but it catches enough to reduce the devastating affects.
It is currently being tested on rats and monkeys before a decision is made to test on humans.

“When someone takes cocaine — whether snorted, smoked or injected — you don’t have much time,”

says study coauthor Ronald Crystal, a pulmonary physician at Weill Cornell Medical College in

 New York City.  “It takes about six second to pass from the lungs to the blood to the brain... We

need avid antibodies, at high levels.”

Mice were given three injections over six weeks. The control group received a placebo while the experimental group received 'cocainelike substance with noninfectious portions of an adenovirus that stimulate an immune response but don’t cause disease'. Four weeks after the 6 week injection period, all mice were given injection of cocaine.

However, the behavioral effects were even better. The cocaine-injected control rats (who received placebo) were running around (with the usual effects of cocaine) three times more than the experimental group.

The experimental group behaved similar to mice given no cocaine at all.

The drug has the potential to be tested in humans in 1-2 years. "Any prospective anticocaine vaccine needs a lot of testing, in part because it isn’t clear whether just taking more of the drug might overwhelm a vaccine’s effect, says Frank Orson, a physician and immunologist at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. Also, the researchers in the new study used an additive called complete Freund’s adjuvant to boost the immune reponse in the mice. The adjuvant cannot be used in people because of side effects, he says."

Taken to court... for mailing a puppy

A 39 year old woman, Stacey Champion, is currently under investigation for attempting to mail a puppy from Minneapolis to Atlanta. The woman walked in the post office, paid for parcel shipping and continued about her day. Before leaving the post office, the Stacey told the desk clerk the package was a 'toy robot' because the desk clerk was throwing the box around.

Post office workers were forced to open package when box began 'moving on it's own'. Post office workers were stunned to fine 4 month old puppy in package. Box had tiny air holes and contained no food inside. The package would have been 'shipped via air in an unheated, unpressurized compartment' and would have taken 3 days to arrive. Workers say the small pup would have suffocated to death.
Stacey Champion stated she sent the package to her son for his birthday.

Mrs. Champion said on the stand, "They don't have no display of what should be shipped and what should not be shipped" in her defense. Stacey Champion faces two criminal counts for cruelty to an animal. But Stacey didn't stop there. She asked the courts for the puppy to be returned to her. The request was denied, and Stacey now has 5 days to appeal before the puppy is put up for adoption.

Out with old, in with new :)

Boo wordpress, yay Blogspot

Posted most old blogs from previous wordpress blog on here
Enjoy new posts :)

Dresses: Beautiful. Elegant. Edible

Chocolate 

Chris March
 














Ami Goodheart

 Spaghetti and Meatball

Meat Skirt

Whispering Harmful To Your Voice?

Sore throat? Need to preserve your voice?

Just whisper...

However, otolaryngologists actually disagree saying that whispering causes more trauma to the larynx than normal speaking.

Singers have been always been advised to never whisper as it will damage your pipes!

For many years, otolaryngologists have confessed research hasn't been done to prove this, but years of pronouncement has made them confident in this.

In 2006, the “Laryngeal Hyperfunction During Whispering: Reality or Myth?” study was done by  Dr. Sataloff, a professional opera baritone. He tested 100 persons who were asked to count from 1-10 in their normal voice and then in a whisper. Their vocal cords were being examined by a fiber-optic scopes during this process.

Results showed that in 69/100 subjects showed clear evidence that whispering put a heavier strain on vocal cords than normal speaking. 18 persons had no clear change and 13 persons have more strain shown speaking in normal voice.

“They were squeezing their vocal cords together more tightly to produce the whisper, which is more traumatic,” said Dr. Rubin, director of the Lakeshore Professional Voice Center in Michigan.
Dr. Stataloff advises not to whisper if concerned about your voice, but to talk in a soft voice, “the voice you would use if you wanted to talk to somebody next to you without having other people in the room hear.”