Halloween Greetings

Once again, the leaves are falling and the pumpkins in the patch are ripe. It’s the time that all restless spirits set forth in their annual ritual of calling on the living - and demanding treats.

Halloween is known and loved today as a time to wear costumes, go door to door asking for candy, and watch monster movies. But the holiday’s origins go back centuries to the enactment of All Saints’ Day, a Christian holiday. Along the way, it has also picked up traditions from Samhain, a Celtic festival celebrating the start of winter.

We’re looking forward to the visitations of all the little goblins and spirits at our door tonight. We plan on posting some spooky pictures here tomorrow.

Our city is ranked as the 43rd safest, but that’s little consolation when you consider we’re virtually surrounded by very dangerous places. Nearby Compton is fourth most dangerous and Inglewood to the North is 62nd.

From our local newspaper:

How safe is your city? If you live in Torrance, smile

The city ranks 43rd nationally on a list of 371 U.S. cities. If you’re reading from St. Louis, lock your doors.

Take a deep breath, Torrance: You are the nation’s 43rd-safest city.

The new rankings, released today, peg Brick, N.J., as the safest city in the land, and St. Louis as the most dangerous. Torrance came in just behind Warwick, R.I., at 42nd, and ahead of Clifton, N.J., at 44th. Torrance is the second-safest city in L.A. County, behind Santa Clarita at 34th.

When it comes to being safe in our homes, we’re comfortable with our home defenses and know how to apply them should the need arise. That’s why we’re voting for Republicans next week since there is not one single Democrat on our ballot that supports our right to own and bear arms. Diane Feinstein once indicated that “everyone should just turn in their guns” and disarm. Of course, there are many other reasons not to vote Democratic.

Yep, today’s been a pretty good day for me. I enjoyed working in the garden, enjoyed getting ready for Halloween, had a pretty good day at the range and enjoyed a sumptuous meal of BBQ “Crazy Yellow Chicken” with pinto beans, corn on the cob and special rice with tortillas.

The sun was greeted by this white Icelandic Poppy this morning in my garden. I just love these since they tolerate the cooler temperatures and provode colors in the garden late into the year.

Even though this is called an Icelandic Poppy, it is, in fact, native to the USA. Read the following short articles for more facts and more pretty pictures about Icelandic Poppies.

• Complimentary Colors
• A Yellow Icelandic Poppy
• Damsel Sends You an Icelandic Poppy

By the way, if you’re in a timezone that observes daylight saving time, tonight’s the time to set your clocks back an hour.

Since we love Halloween, we’re going to start getting in the “spirit” with this colorful centerpiece on our table this weekend. Over the weekend, we’re going to get the decorations and the rest of the preparations ready for the little spooks headed our way on October 31st.

The twin spacecraft mission STEREO blasted off from Cape Canaveral in a nighttime launch last night. STEREO, which stands for Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory, is a two-spacecraft mission to observe solar activity from two vantage points in orbit around the sun. the spacecraft, identified as A (ahead) and B (behind), will head for the Moon to get a gravitational “slingshot” into orbit. B will be flung into orbit behind the Earth while A will return to the Moon for another boost into orbit ahead of Earth. This separation in space provides a unique view of the Sun from orbits with a similar distance from the Sun as the Earth, while imaging from points away from our planet. The spacecraft will assume their stations near Lagrange points L4 and L5.

Image right: STEREO Night Launch - courtesy NASA

Continue reading » Watching the Sun in STEREO

Another spectacular fly-by; the Navy Blue Angels F18 Hornets pass by in a box formation.

This was so much fun, we’re already planning to do it again next year.

I read an interesting report written by John L. Daly about the emergence of the “hockey stick” paradigm. The “hockey stick” (since the shape of the graph resembles one) graph emerged in 1995 and purports to depict average global temperatures over the last 1000 years or so. The basis of this paradigm, however, can be shown to be flawed.

At the behest of the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Dr. Michael Mann of the Department of Geosciences, University of Massachusetts wrote a report containing the questionable climate graph.

To get the graph, the good doctor grafted data obtained from tree rings worldwide onto the more recent average global temperature data. This is inherently not a good practice to mix data from two completely different sources. Moreover, tree rings are influenced by many factors other than temperature, and the conclusions probably contain errors. Nonetheless, the IPCC immediately embraced the report as evidence that there was “a discernible human influence on global climate.”

John L. Daly in his article The “Hockey Stick” - A New Low in Climate Science presents 14 exhibits of climate science that completely discredit the “hockey stick.” Daly also shows how the biased media can make “stars” out of their favorite scientists as they did with Dr. Mann. This “star” status reduces science to the level of Hollywood, according to Daly.

The graph below shows worldwide temperatures since the last ice age which occurred over ten thousand years ago. The data used to plot this graph have been assembled from reliable scientific research. Notice that over the last 1000 years (see inset), the temperature dropped from the medieval warm period down to the “little ice age” and rebounded since that time. Why, then, does the “hockey stick” not show this? The answer is simple — the “hockey stick” contains flawed data prior to 1900 AD. Notice also that there’s nothing remarkable about the current warming bubble. If solar activity continues to increase, there’s not much anybody can do about it, but will it be that bad or will we simply adapt?

Supporters of the “hockey stick” defend their model by suggesting that the little ice age and medieval warm periods were confined to the northern hemisphere or to Europe. That’s simply not the case according to Daly’s report and to NASA - I prepared a three-phase review on why solar activity is the primary cause of climate fluctuation. In that review, I utilized NASA’s graphics and sunspot data. Together, these demonstrate the world-wide nature of climate fluctuation. Conclusions that I made in that review apply equally to this subject:

1. The media will print or broadcast sensationalized headlines to sell copy regardless of scientific value
2. The media will print or broadcast manipulated science with half-truths and invalid conclusions to damage politicians with whom they do not agree
3. Politicians seize on these unverified claims in order to blame their opponents
4. Uneducated/uninformed people are as gullible as ever

And one more conclusion:

• The United Nations is NOT our friend - get us out NOW

References:

John L. Daly:

• The “Hockey Stick” - A New Low in Climate Science

World Climate Report:

• Another Swipe at the Hockey Stick
• Diatom Diatribe
• Tropical Seas Sink Hockey Stick

CO2 Science:

• The Specter of Species Extinction

Since we had network problems today, Cap’n Bob was not able to finish his article as planned. So, he asked me to post a flower photo.

There are over 200 varieties of this lovely flower. It is the state flower of Hawaii and the national flower of South Korea. This golden hibiscus was growing in a pot at a nearby home improvement center.

I took several shots of the orchids in our local garden emporium today, and although all of them were beautiful, these stood out as being the most unusual and interesting.

This is a nice picture of a selection of squash for sale at our local farmer’s market. They make a decorative addition to a holiday table or centerpiece.

These colorful Gerbera daisies were the centerpiece of our table last weekend. Since this is such a nice picture, I decided to share it with you a week late.