Dec
15
2008
Interesting Data
Filed Under Science | Leave a Comment
Interesting Data
Filed Under Science | Leave a Comment
“Never argue with the data.” – Sheen Estevez
With the argument about global warming/cooling, I got to wondering about sunspots. Since I forgot where I could see recent images of the solar surface, I Googled it. I got the Wikipedia article about sunspots. This is where I found this image. Please note that this is reverse; the most recent being on the left. Which made me wonder: has anyone overlaid the solar activity w/ global temperatures. So, I went looking for global temperature charts. Here’s a global temperature chart from the U.S. Global Change Research Information Office. You make the call.
Dec
5
2008
I got this essay in an email the other day. It starts like this:
Who would have thought that the opening of the brand new Capitol Visitor Center (CVC) in Washington, D.C. would be divinely ordained?
It certainly came as news to one particular Senator with a strong aversion to such a can of worms, Jim DeMint of South Carolina. In a recent statement, the Senator came down hard on the CVC, particularly the displays therein which, he claims, “are left-leaning and in some cases distort our true history.”
One prominently engraved quote really has Mr. DeMint and other conservatives fuming. As it reads:
“We have built no temple but the Capitol. We consult no common oracle but the Constitution.”
So, the Capitol is a temple? Last I checked it was a very expensive American Neoclassical office building. And last I heard the Constitution was one of the nation’s most important political documents–which many in our current political establishment regard as a cumbersome hindrance rather than an “oracle” to be consulted.
Since it seems like so many people I respect on the ‘net tend to drift into the atheistic camps of Ayn Rand Objectivism, I thought it would be interesting just to post this and say: “Discuss”. Hopefully one or two of you are still reading.