"World Encircler"

Apophis	Apophis	Apophis

Apep, the Egyptian demon of Chaos, also known as Apophis, 'Evil Lizard','Enemy of Ra', 'World Encircler' and 'Serpent of Rebirth' (source). He was a demon of the unknown and frightening events, and was so feared that he was never pictured as he 'appeared' so as to avoid giving the drawing magical demon power, so was often depicted as a water-snake. He battled the Sun-god "Ra" daily just beneath the horizon and solar eclipses were "interpreted as a victory of Apep over Ra".


Apophis is also the name of an asteroid (full designation: 99942 Apophis) that NASA estimates to have a 2.7% chance of hitting the earth in 2029. And factors such as "sunlight", a gravity sweet spots may push Apophis a couple of Earth lengths left or right. And assuming it misses Earth in 2029, the closeness of the 'miss' could alter the trajectory on it's return flight in 2036. The calculations are so complex that the NASA boffins cannot with a reasonable degree of confidence tell us where Apophis will end up in 2036...at this time. They will have to recalculate if and when the near miss occurs.

(But don't worry they can tell us with a "high" degree of certainty with a similar if not more complex system what the weather will be like in a 100 years or so...)

Here's an Apophis-eye view of what we hope is a miss:

Should the cosmic pinball game that is our solar system run in such a way that planet Earth becomes the 5000 point bumper, our Egyptian/NASA friends will indeed have aptly named the "World Encircler" as Apophis will have finally overcome his sworn enemy Ra (our sun) by causing a world-wide blackout:

“Nasa has estimated that an impact from Apophis... would release more than 100,000 times the energy released in the nuclear blast over Hiroshima. Thousands of square kilometres would be directly affected by the blast but the whole of the Earth would see the effects of the dust released into the atmosphere.”

Oh yeah, and the best bit? The date of the "fly-by" in 2029...April, Friday the 13th.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!

Exploding Sandcastles

Going away for a couple weeks. Postings will be light until January.

Have a Merry Xmas and great New Year and try not to let Global Warming kill you.

Here's some backwards exploding sandcastles...

Ninjas hijacked my mother

And something about apple juice...

(via DavidThompson)

Drugs

A very interesting infographic from the creator of the blog Information is Beautiful.

Using data sourced from the reporting in The Guardian. There are some surprising results.

Check out the complete picture and post available here

Red Green - Green Red

A common meme among right-wing blogs and other 'denialist' medium regarding the single minded obsession of the environmentalists, is this idea that socialism didn't die in 1989, it just transferred itself to the Green movement (something the co-founder of Greenpeace agrees with) and subsequently underpins the naked hypocrisy and power grab that has become the movement to STOP THE WARMING.

Well to put all that malarkey to rest, here's what happened in Carbonhagen this week when Hugo Chavez, el Presidente for life of Venezuela spoke at COP 15(emphasis mine):

“our revolution seeks to help all people…socialism, the other ghost that is probably wandering around this room, that’s the way to save the planet, capitalism is the road to hell....let’s fight against capitalism and make it obey us.” He won a standing ovation.

Lord Monckton who alerted the world to the in-text tyranny of the Carbonhagen treaty, had asked the current PM of the Czech Republic Dr Vaclav Klaus about the 'communistic' tendency of the treaty, and his response was:

“Maybe it is not brutal. But in all other respects, what it proposes is far too close to Communism for comfort.”

And this is from a dude who lived under a Communist regime.

Now where is my tin-foil hat...

Tweepocrisy

Ms Ross and her husband Steven, who is in the Air Force, have said they want to be left alone to mourn their son.

This from the woman who tweeted her son's dying moments...

The TV Show

Breakdancers, masked bandits, Godzilla, wars, baseball games, and a TV master control room. And that's only in the first 10 seconds....

Burka Barbie

From the Daily Mail:

"One of the world's most famous children's toys, Barbie, has been given a makeover - wearing a burkha.

Wearing the traditional Islamic dress, the iconic doll is going undercover for a charity auction in connection with Sotheby's for Save The Children."

So to follow the thinking of the designers of Barbie's 50th Anniversary collection, let's dress up Barbie in clothes that represent the most misogynistic and oppressive political ideas, and then sell it at a charity to help the children.

'I know Barbie was something seen as bad before as an image for girls, but in actual fact the message with Barbie for women is you can be whatever you want to be.'

progress...

Why the burka is so objectionable is explained by Mark Steyn

"The burka, the niqab and the hijab are not fashion statements but explicitly political ones, and what they symbolize in a Western context is self-segregation."

On a supposedly unrelated note, Obama's "Safe School Czar" has a recommended reading list of books for children of all grades. Some of the books

weren’t merely X-rated and pornographic, but which featured explicit descriptions of sex acts between pre-schoolers; stories that seemed to promote and recommend child-adult sexual relationships; stories of public masturbation, anal sex in restrooms, affairs between students and teachers...

The point being that whilst the existence of both the toy and the books aren't necessarily too disturbing in and of themselves, but the values they are promoting to children are perhaps not the ones we as society should be.

I wonder what little girls in Afghanistan think of the Barbie...

Lethal Weapon - Lego edition

From this:

"I was surrounded by about 6 SWAT guys armed with shotguns and assault rifles. At this point it seemed like a good idea to inquire why I might be in custody. Apparently I had been reported with a gun."

Do not underestimate the power of Lego....

Who throws a shoe??!?

Remember that "hero" Iraqi journalist that deployed an I.S.P (Improvised Shoe Projectile) at George W. Bush last year? Well, what goes around, comes around.

He who lives by the shoe…may get hit by the shoe


Ask not for whom the shoe throws, it is being thrown at thee….

He who has the last shoe throw…will walk home in socks

From Storyballoon (via Newsbusters)

Judgement

From this story:

"I'm angry. I'm hurt," Bellamy said. "You shouldn't judge someone based on who they are."

Say what?

Disconnect

Last week, the Swiss people voted to change the national constitution to ban the constructions of minarets, the distinctive spires on the top of many (but not all) mosques. Switzerland has a type of 'direct democracy' where referendums can be be held for the people to vote on ANY legislation. The majority party, Swiss People Party (SVP) were driving the campaign, and 57.5% of voters voted in favor of the ban, contrary to the results of opinion polls on the vote.

Of course, the Swiss were roundly condemned by their own politicians, and of course the UN condemn it, the EU are critical, the Vatican criticize it (?!?!), the Egyptians believe it is a "grave mistake", the Maltese believe it "is a violation of human rights and religious freedom" and that bastion of human rights and religious tolerance, Iran believe it is an Islamaphobic act, which of course was backed up with a threat, and the Norwegians likened the swiss to Nazis (which given Switzerland's history *cough*WWII*cough* ... well enough said about that)

Norwegian newspaper "Dagsavien" front page, Monday 30th November, 2009
(picture source)

Automatic accusations of "Islamophobia" and racism flew thick and fast with Europe's elites were shocked (shocked!!!) that the Swiss people would resent what they see as the creeping Islamization of their society. And what becomes clear is the disconnect between the policies advocated by politicians, and what the "common people" think. The refusal of mainstream European political parties to talk about issues that are considered to sensitive to mention, is opening the door to extreme right-wing parties to garner public support. Much in the same way the refusal of Australian political parties to talk frankly and openly about immigration allowed a racist fishmonger to get elected to parliament 13 years ago. The Swiss People's Party cannot be compared to the UK's BNP, or France's Le Pen, as they are the majority mainstream party, so the reactions around Europe (and the World) demonstrates how disconnected the agenda of the European elites is vs their own citizens.

SVP Minaret ban poster (picture source)

Some delusions from columnists in The Guardian:

"Populist demagogues blame political, cultural, and commercial elites for the anxieties of the modern world. They are accused, not entirely without reason, of imposing mass immigration, economic crisis, and loss of national identity on ordinary citizens. But if the elites are hated for causing our modern malaise, the Muslims are envied for still having faith, for knowing who they are, for having something that is worth dying for."

(yeah it's the fact that Muslims "have faith" that the masses are jealous of, nothing to do with the specifics of their religious practice.... I think we have here is the first occurrence of Jihad-envy)

And some insightful introspectiveness, from of all places, Indonesia (in an article entitled "Thanking the Swiss Vote"):

"Frankly speaking, we expected more from the Swiss in their vote whether to endorse a government ban on minarets.
...
If a nation as peaceful as Switzerland sees the minaret as a symbol of Islamic fundamentalism and radicalism, how do other nations who are less tolerant see this symbol of Islam?"

And thanks to this vote, these issues are now being discussed. Taj Hargey in The Times (UK):

"Muslims who have settled in Switzerland (and elsewhere in Europe) should not confuse culture with creed. To become integrated into their surroundings, they must relinquish the cultural baggage of their ancestral homelands. They should practice a Swiss Islam that is rooted in the society in which they live.
Although the Swiss have been convinced by right-wing zealots that minarets are a problem, local Muslims should not embrace a victim mentality. They must confront the toxic radicalisation of their faith that is imported from overseas."

It's no wonder the Swiss want to ban minarets...they're starting to grow on people's heads.
(picture source)

How a conspiracy unfolds

One of the major questions I get asked about my Warming denialist beliefs is how could there be a global conspiracy of scientists and politicians pushing an agenda if the "facts" aren't in? Well the leak of the CRU emails, or "Climategate" as it is now known, shows precisely how and why this came about.

The answer is, as in any detective story, follow the money.

Brett Stephens from the Wall Street Journal:

“Why did the money pour in so quickly? Because the climate alarm kept ringing so loudly: The louder the alarm, the greater the sums.
...
None of these outfits is per se corrupt, in the sense that the monies they get are spent on something other than their intended purposes. But they depend on an inherently corrupting premise, namely that the hypothesis on which their livelihood depends has in fact been proved. Absent that proof, everything they represent—including the thousands of jobs they provide—vanishes. This is what's known as a vested interest, and vested interests are an enemy of sound science.”

Why this is such an incredible scandal is precisely because these scientists/politicians (or as I like to call them "activists") want to re-order the world economy and political structures based on the premise that man-made CO2 output is affecting the world's climate. Nothing short of "re-structuring" (read: handicapping) the developed worlds economies and establishing one global government to manage the world's industries will do. You think I'm tin-foil-hat-conspiracy mongering?

Let me quote from the UN's own IPCC "Ad hoc working group on long-term copperative action under the convention" document, or what is known as the proposed Copenhagen treaty (page 18):

"38. The scheme for the new institutional arrangement under the Convention will be based on three basic pillars: government; facilitative mechanism; and financial mechanism, and the basic organization of which will include the following:

(a) The government will be ruled by the COP with the support of a new subsidiary body on adaptation, and of an Executive Board responsible for the management of the new funds and the related facilitative processes and bodies. The current Convention secretariat will operate as such, as appropriate"

Did you know that the Copenhagen conference was attempting to establish a "government"?

Lord Monckton (an adviser of Margaret Thatcher) said in an address in October:

"I read that treaty. And what it says is this, that a world government is going to be created. The word “government” actually appears as the first of three purposes of the new entity. The second purpose is the transfer of wealth from the countries of the West to third world countries, in satisfication of what is called, coyly, “climate debt” – because we’ve been burning CO2 and they haven’t. We’ve been screwing up the climate and they haven’t. And the third purpose of this new entity, this government, is enforcement."

Video of the presentation:


You would think that if changes of this nature to the world economy and political structures are that important you would want to make sure you get your facts right. Thus the importance of the CRU leaked documents cannot be underestimated, even to to the point where total left-wing greenies are now demanding explanation. Clive Crook from The Atlantic (definitely not a right-wing rag - emphasis mine):

“I'm also surprised by the IPCC's response. Amid the self-justification, I had hoped for a word of apology, or even of censure. (George Monbiot called for Phil Jones to resign, for crying out loud.) At any rate I had expected no more than ordinary evasion. The declaration from Rajendra Pachauri that the emails confirm all is as it should be is stunning. Science at its best. Science as it should be. Good lord. This is pure George Orwell. And these guys call the other side "deniers".

“These people are willing to subvert the very methods--notably, peer review--that underwrite the integrity of their discipline. Is this really business as usual in science these days? If it is, we should demand higher standards--at least whenever "the science" calls for a wholesale transformation of the world economy. And maybe some independent oversight to go along with the higher standards. “

So what has happened this week thanks to Climategate?

• Phil Jones, the head of the University of East Anglia's Climate Research Unit has stepped down.
• Al Gore has canceled his Copenhagen USD $1,200 per handshake event
• In The Guardian, one of the loudest Warm-mongers and fellow comrade-in-arms to Al Gore, Dr James Hansen of NASA's Goddard Institute of Space Studies (also implicated in Climategate) has said that the Copenhagen Climate talks must fail
• And Arnold Schwarzenegger has unveiled a scary new climate change map.

The Terminator talks about the end of the world...for Californians

Lego Matrix

Genius...

Unintended Irony

In 1731, a man called John Hadley published a paper to the Royal Society describing a new instrument for measuring angles. Hadley’s quadrants (also known as the “octant”) were so successful because they allowed a much greater accuracy in measuring longitude and latitude. His brother, George Hadley was in charge of meteorological observations for the Royal Society and had contributed to the theory of “Trade Winds”.

An octant - the very picture of accurate measurements circa 1731
(picture source)

It is after George Hadley that the Met Office’s Hadley Centre for Climate Change is named. From their own website they are:

“the UK’s foremost climate change research centre. We produce world-class guidance on the science of climate change and provide a focus in the UK for the scientific issues associated with climate change.”

The Met Office Hadley Centre, in cooperation with the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit helped to develop some scary (yet now well debunked) temperature graphs that were used to scare politicians into believing in The Warming. In fact, from the link it appears that the CRU only used the Hadley Centre’s data in formulating the booga-booga temperature graphs.

Booga-booga-you're-all-gonna-die-unless-we-tax-the-living-shit-out-of-everyone
hockey stick graph (picture source)

From a man who helped the world by providing more accurate measurements, to a "research institute" that profanes his name by supplying ‘less than accurate measurements’ (which, due to some unfortunate circumstances, are now lost forever).

The biggest scientific fraud of the century has begun to unravel thanks to leaked emails of the University of East Anglia's Climate Research Unit (CRU) and their brothers in arms at the Hadley Centre.

Ah Irony, thy name is hockey stick.

Is this the face of a murderer?

Well according to Bolivian police (and Bolivian TV stations), yes it is. And the best thing about it? It's ushered in a whole new era of witness protection technology.

This is apparently real footage recorded off Bolivian TV. I can't really vouch for it, but damn it makes a funny video:

Man-caused disasters

I have written about the poison Political Correctness has injected into the public discourse, but the US media coverage, nay the US army's handling, of the Ft Hood massacre demonstrates how deep the toxins have penetrated. Right from the top where Obama counselled the US "not to rush to judgement" to a news anchor whining(!) that the "alleged" Ft Hood shooter's last name wasn't "Smith".

And even though the shooter wasn't shy about his own reasons for going postal; from his business cards , to a powerpoint presentation he gave a couple of years ago to Army doctors, to his "battle cry" as he slaughtered unarmed people, the head of the freakin US army is more concerned about the possible adverse effect to the army's "diversity":

“Our diversity, not only in our Army, but in our country, is a strength. And as horrific as this tragedy was, if our diversity becomes a casualty, I think that’s worse,” Casey said."

Imagine that...losing "diversity" is much worse than the slaughter of 13 people and an unborn baby.

And the excuses continue, from Charles Krauthammer:

“And the perfect moral finesse. Medicalizing mass murder not only exonerates. It turns the murderer into a victim, indeed a sympathetic one. After all, secondary PTSD, for those who believe in it (you won't find it in DSM-IV-TR, psychiatry's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual), is known as "compassion fatigue." The poor man -- pushed over the edge by an excess of sensitivity.”

The guy all but fixed a flashing neon sign above his head saying "I want to kill lots of Americans", yet as a serving Major in the US army, his colleagues were too damn scared to adversely affect their careers by speaking out against a Muslim.

(picture source)