Where's Space?

Where have I been? Obviously some place that allows me to neglect this blog!

Actually, it's just been a very, VERY hectic time.
-I am learning why a linear extrapolation is not appropriate for quantifying the difficulty of having two kids versus just one.
-I am trying to wrap up three research projects while starting a new one and continuing two others.
-I am in the midst of a travel blitzkrieg, including 2.5 hours worth of presentations to be given this Thursday at SWRI.
-It's proposal season! I'm involved in three, leading the writing on one, and have more coming up soon.

But most of all, it's about the future. My appointment here at the lab ends in less than a year. This means that I have big decisions to make, the sooner the better. If I decide to go back to academia, I need to publish and fast. If I decide to try to obtain a full-time position at the lab, I need to do lab-oriented research. The situation is as tenuous as it gets, with lab funding caught up in the recent Red-versus-Blue budget showdown on capital hill. With science funding from NASA, NSF, and others in the same position, universities may be loathe to hire researchers for fear of available research grants to keep them. All this contributes to long talks at home and less sleep that I care to admit. I, however, do not have it worst- many of my colleagues are in tougher positions due to their citizenship. I do not envy their position whatsoever.

Given my laundry list of responsibilities, where does this blog fall? The lack of posts clearly answers this question, but not how I want it answered. I want this to become a good science blog with a reasonable number of followers, and the only way to do this is by posting, and frequently. Therefore, I lay down two challenges to myself:
1) Drastically increase the frequency of posts throughout the month of April. This should be easy, considering the upcoming NFL draft (which I never miss!)
2) May will be Post-A-Day-May (PADM). I will post every day throughout May.

These two challenges should get the blog back on track.

Good Internet Monday: Put It to the Test

l bought TMBG's "Here Comes Science!" album for my (at the time) 2-year old daughter only to find that there are a number of songs that should be required listening for adults. Case in point: a song that reminds us that we do not need to rely on intuition, gut reaction, or that most loathsome phrase, "common sense", in order to evaluate things. Science gives us a framework to test ideas in a detailed, conclusive fashion.

If more people tested the beliefs they hold concerning science, religion, and politics, I would have a lot less material for this blog.

Whiskey Tango Friday - Orbs That Are Totally Not Dust Particles Reflecting Light From Your Camera Flash

Whoa, where did Friday go? Oh yeah, it went snowboarding. That's why there was no on-time WTF post (which is too bad, because I have a good one!)

I received this from my grad school advisor; he found it by googling "magnetosphere images".

ORBS!

What are these energy orbs? Well, a less informed person would say, "looks like you need to clean the lens and hold the camera still when you're taking pictures." HA! Wrong! They're actually energy... things... that do... stuff. Yeah. Just look at the picture:

Look, I read the site ten times, and I don't know what the author thinks these things are supposed to be. Seriously, what do these words mean?

Space is a fluid ..Hence a field of plasma..Hence a 'plasma field'. . Its motion or state of being is 'Guided by Matter'
. Thus an orb or space craft or other type of matter going through it would affect its field. Think of a boat propelling
itself through water - the faster and larger the boat - the more distortion of the water it is going through .

Yeah, I don't know either.

No Haven for Science, Part 2

When I receive an email like the one I shared in my previous post, I can't help but reply to it in some capacity. The difficulty with this particular message is that I don't know what the person who shared the doomsday story (from here on out, I'll refer to him as "Carl") is looking for -- is he just whipping up trouble on LANL's climate mailing list, or does he want a serious answer? After contemplating possible intents, I realized there was only one way to respond!
And yes, that was a "reply-all".

The next day, I received his response to my rather brash inquiry. Here it is in all its verbatim, sic glory:

I don't know [Spacecataz] it sounds as reasonable a cause for the storm changes as saying "CO2 did it." What if it is a mixture of both. Changes in magnetic flux causing increases and decreases in solar energy. Could it be the reason for the model and reality differences. What if the the global warming science and NASA sciences are stuck in own little boxes and neither can look at the forest.

Just saying! I am a cause and affect Engineer and maybe we are just experiencing something that happens. Just think what the knee jerk reaction would be of our government, and our science today if we around during the dust bowl years of the 30's. We would still be riding horses, no power plants would be built, no industry. This is what I'm seeing happening. Something less happens today and we (well China does anyway) build wind turbines and solar collectors, and ridicules light bulbs to fix it. Like riding horses neither of these industries will do anything to help and history will show that we were enlightened fools.

I will let get back to work. I've got to continue making sure there is a [job related stuff about vacuum chambers]. Just with that little bit of energy we move oceans of air. It is amazing why the earth atmosphere is just not in a huge storm.
["Carl"]

TL:DR -- Yes, he is quite serious.

No Haven for Science, Part 1

Working at a renowned science laboratory, one would hope that there would be a heightened understanding and respect for the scientific process and the great insights gleaned from those who toil in scientific inquiry on a daily basis.

Oh, how naive I am.

The following email was sent to the climate mailing list within the Lab - note that all personal and otherwise sensitive information has been scrubbed. The upcoming posts will chronicle my ongoing experience in dealing with... well, just read the thing.

What If??? Is there any truth in this?

[Begin Forwarded Message]

Magnetic Polar Shifts Causing Massive Global Superstorms

Terrence Aym Salem-News.com

Superstorms can also cause certain societies, cultures or whole countries to collapse. Others may go to war with each other.

Courtesy: Weather Snob


(CHICAGO) - NASA has been warning about it…scientific papers have been written about it…geologists have seen its traces in rock strata and ice core samples…

Now "it" is here: an unstoppable magnetic pole shift that has sped up and is causing life-threatening havoc with the world's weather.

Forget about global warming man-made or natural what drives planetary weather patterns is the climate and what drives the climate is the sun's magnetosphere and its electromagnetic interaction with a planet's own magnetic field.

When the field shifts, when it fluctuates, when it goes into flux and begins to become unstable anything can happen. And what normally happens is that all hell breaks loose.

Magnetic polar shifts have occurred many times in Earth's history. It's happening again now to every planet in the solar system including Earth.

The magnetic field drives weather to a significant degree and when that field starts migrating superstorms start erupting.

The superstorms have arrived

The first evidence we have that the dangerous superstorm cycle has started is the devastating series of storms that pounded the UK during late 2010.


On the heels of the lashing the British Isles sustained, monster storms began to lash North America. The latest superstorm as of this writing is a monster over the U.S. that stretched across 2,000 miles affecting more than 150 million people.

Yet even as that storm wreaked havoc across the Western, Southern, Midwestern and Northeastern states, another superstorm broke out in the Pacific and closed in on Australia.

The southern continent had already dealt with the disaster of historic superstorm flooding from rains that dropped as much as several feet in a matter of hours. Tens of thousands of homes were damaged or destroyed. After the deluge tiger sharks were spotted swimming between houses in what was once a quiet suburban neighborhood.

Shocked authorities now numbly concede that much of the water may never dissipate and have wearily resigned themselves to the possibility that region will now contain a new inland sea.

But then only a handful of weeks later another superstorm the megamonster cyclone Yasi struck northeastern Australia. The damage it left in its wake is being called by rescue workers a war zone.

The incredible superstorm packed winds near 190mph. Although labeled as a category-5 cyclone, it was theoretically a category-6. The reason for that is storms with winds of 155mph are considered category-5, yet Yasi was almost 22 percent stronger than that.

A cat's cradle


Yet Yasi may only be a foretaste of future superstorms. Some climate researchers, monitoring the rapidly shifting magnetic field, are predicting superstorms in the future with winds as high as 300 to 400mph.

Such storms would totally destroy anything they came into contact with on land.

The possibility more storms like Yasi or worse will wreak havoc on our civilization and resources is found in the complicated electromagnetic relationship between the sun and Earth. The synergistic tug-of-war has been compared by some to an intricately constructed cat's cradle. And it's in a constant state of flux.

The sun's dynamic, ever-changing electric magnetosphere interfaces with the Earth's own magnetic field affecting, to a degree, the Earth's rotation, precessional wobble, dynamics of the planet's core, its ocean currents and above all else the weather.

Cracks in Earth's Magnetic Shield

The Earth's northern magnetic pole was moving towards Russia at a rate of about five miles annually. That progression to the East had been happening for decades.

Suddenly, in the past decade the rate sped up. Now the magnetic pole is shifting East at a rate of 40 miles annually, an increase of 800 percent. And it continues to accelerate.

Recently, as the magnetic field fluctuates, NASA has discovered "cracks" in it. This is worrisome as it significantly affects the ionosphere, troposphere wind patterns, and atmospheric moisture. All three things have an effect on the weather.

Worse, what shields the planet from cancer-causing radiation is the magnetic field. It acts as a shield deflecting harmful ultra-violet, X-rays and other life-threatening radiation from bathing the surface of the Earth. With the field weakening and cracks emerging, the death rate from cancer could skyrocket and mutations of DNA can become rampant.

Another federal agency, NOAA, issued a report caused a flurry of panic when they predicted that mammoth superstorms in the future could wipe out most of California. The NOAA scientists said it's a plausible scenario and would be driven by an "atmospheric river" moving water at the same rate as 50 Mississippi rivers flowing into the Gulf of Mexico.

Magnetic field may dip, flip and disappear

The Economist wrote a detailed article about the magnetic field and what's happening to it. In the article they noted:


"There is, however, a growing body of evidence that the Earth's magnetic field is about to disappear, at least for a while. The geological record shows that it flips from time to time, with the south pole becoming the north, and vice versa. On average, such reversals take place every 500,000 years, but there is no discernible pattern. Flips have happened as close together as 50,000 years, though the last one was 780,000 years ago. But, as discussed at the Greenland Space Science Symposium, held in Kangerlussuaq this week, the signs are that another flip is coming soon."

Discussing the magnetic polar shift and the impact on weather, the scholarly paper "Weather and the Earth's magnetic field" was published in the journal Nature. Scientists too are very concerned about the increasing danger of superstorms and the impact on humanity.


Superstorms will not only damage agriculture across the planet leading to famines and mass starvation, they will also change coastlines, destroy cities and create tens of millions of homeless.

Superstorms can also cause certain societies, cultures or whole countries to collapse. Others may go to war with each other.

A Danish study published in the scientific journal Geology, found strong correlation between climate change, weather patterns and the magnetic field.

"The earth's climate has been significantly affected by the planet's magnetic field, according to a Danish study published Monday that could challenge the notion that human emissions are responsible for global warming.

"'Our results show a strong correlation between the strength of the earth's magnetic field and the amount of precipitation in the tropics,' one of the two Danish geophysicists behind the study, Mads Faurschou Knudsen of the geology department at Aarhus University in western Denmark, told the Videnskab journal.

"He and his colleague Peter Riisager, of the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS), compared a reconstruction of the prehistoric magnetic field 5,000 years ago based on data drawn from stalagmites and stalactites found in China and Oman."

In the scientific paper " Midday magnetopause shifts earthward of geosynchronous orbit during geomagnetic superstorms with Dst = -300 nT" the magnetic intensity of solar storms impacting Earth can intensify the effects of the polar shift and also speed up the frequency of the emerging superstorms.

Pole reversal may also be initiating new Ice Age

According to some geologists and scientists, we have left the last interglacial period behind us. Those periods are lengths of time about 11,500 years between major Ice Ages.

One of the most stunning signs of the approaching Ice Age is what's happened to the world's precessional wobble.

The Earth's wobble has stopped

As explained in the geology and space science website earthchangesmedia.com, "The Chandler wobble was first discovered back in 1891 by Seth Carlo Chandler an American astronomer.

The effect causes the Earth's poles to move in an irregular circle of 3 to 15 meters in diameter in an oscillation. The Earth's Wobble has a 7-year cycle which produces two extremes, a small spiraling wobble circle and a large spiraling wobble circle, about 3.5 years apart.

For the conclusion of this article, visit: helium.com

Also, as a response to comments, Terrence added this:
2002 - Scientists may have detected the beginning of the field's next such reversal:
[ http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=satellites-spy-changes-to ]
2005 - Movement of North Magnetic Pole is accelerating:
[ http://www.physorg.com/news8917.html]
2008 - Earth's Core, Magnetic Field Changing Fast, Study Says
[ http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/06/080630-earth-core.html ]
2008 - Magnetic Portals Connect Earth to Sun
[ http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2008/30oct_ftes/ ]
2009 - North Magnetic Pole Moving Due to Core Flux
[ http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/12/091224-north-pole-magnetic-russia-earth-core.html ]
2009 - The earth's climate is significantly affected by the planet's magnetic field:
[ http://www.terradaily.com/reports/The_earths_magnetic_field_impacts_climate_Danish_study_999.html ]
Jan 2011 - British Geological Survey *Possible Pole Shift Occurring* South Atlantic Anomaly is Growing:
[ http://www.bgs.ac.uk/research/highlights/southAtlantic2010.html]
2009 - A strong, highly-tilted interstellar magnetic field near the Solar System:
[ http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v462/n7276/full/nature08567.html ]
2009 - The solar system is passing through an interstellar cloud that physics says should not exist:
[ http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2009/23dec_voyager/ ]

Find this interesting? Here is the link to Terrence Aym's brand new article published 4 Feb. 2011: Egypt 2011: Preview of America in 2015 - Terrence Aym Salem-News.com

Terrence Aym is a Salem-News.com Contributor based in Chicago, who is well known nationally for his stirring reports on the top ranked site, helium.com. Born in Minnesota, Terrence Aym grew up in the Chicagoland suburbs. Having traveled to 40 of the 50 states and lived in 7 of them, Aym is no stranger to travel. He's also spent time in Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, Europe, Asia and Western Africa. An executive for many years with Wall Street broker-dealer firms, Aym has also had a life-long interest in science, technology, the arts, philosophy and history. If it's still possible to be a 'Renaissance man' in the 21st Century, Aym is working hard to be one.

Aym has several book projects in the works. Media sites that have recently featured Aym, and/or discussed his articles, include ABC News, TIME Magazine, Business Insider, Crunchgear.com, Discover, Dvice, Benzinga and more recently, his work has been showing up in South Africa and Russia.

Your Move, Creep.

Anyone who knew Detroit when Robocop first hit the silver screen understood how the movie hit a little too close to home for Michiganders. For years, I've referred to the flick as frighteningly prophetic, and was only half-joking. As a satire that glances oh-so-close to the truth, they nailed it -- right down to the 6000 SUX commercial.

Apparently, some people have grown either too sentimental about Detroit's fictional hero or are awesome IRL trolls. The mayor of Detroit has had to quash a proposal to erect a statue of our half-human, half-machine benefactor. Since starting to type this post, I've been invited to rallies and Facebook groups in support of the effort.

Truly, today is a great day for freedom.

SamKnows Better Than I Do.

Some time ago, I volunteered to be part of the SamKnows project- an FCC sponsored study of actual versus advertised broadband speeds. I did this for several reasons. First, studies such as this are essential if we are to address the poor state of broadband availability, speed, and cost in the United States. Secondly, it is a powerful tool for the consumer to have a constant quality monitor of a product that you otherwise cannot track.

Most of all, I found myself often feeling like this:

Last week, the "white box" (it's black) came in the mail. It's a replacement router that sends information about my connection to the SamKnows project. In return, I have a personalized website that tracks upstream and downstream bandwidth, latency, and more. I can finally see if I'm getting what I pay for from Kabletown Comcast.

After seeing the first week's worth numbers, I must admit- I'm definitely getting what I pay for, which is 1.5 Mbs download speeds (I'm poor, don't judge my choice of economy internet!!!) For now, I must contain the rage.

You win this round, Comcast. But I'll be back...

I recommend my 3 readers to jump on the SamKnows project. It's free, they don't track any traffic content, and it is, if nothing else, extremely interesting to see your internet connection broken down into hard numbers and plots.

Good Internet Monday: The Consumerist Validates Me!

In my previous post, I tried to make the case that the availability of lower-quality, less healthy food made it easier for me to pork out while in MI. And seriously, who can resist the siren call of Timbits?

The Consumerist, one of my favorite websites, provides hard evidence to my anecdotes: cheaper, crappier food from Walmart makes it easier for people to be fatties. Who would've guessed?

Additionally, they provide news on a break-through solution for this issue. Thank you, internets.

Re-Acclimation

One part of living in Los Alamos is getting used to the altitude- approximately 7500 feet above sea level (suck it, Denver.) Santa Fe, the nearest well-known and well-populated city, is at a similar elevation. This is a huge change for someone who was raised in the midwest near sea level -- at least for the first few weeks or so.

Another aspect is isolation. The community is close-knit because it has to be. There are few restaurants unless you want to drive for a half-hour or more each way, and the ones that are in town close early. The end result of this is frequent get-togethers with friends, co-workers, and home-cooked meals. The diversity of the community means that we're not talking burgers and sausage. Authentic ethnic food is commonplace as well as excellent vegetarian dishes (I'm not a vegetarian, but some of these dishes are awesome!) The situation contrasts strongly with a typical urban setting: rather than an easily accessible array of fast, chain, or high end restaurants (e.g. Burger King, Olive Garden, and some local flavor, respectively), you typically eat high-quality, home cooked meals. It's a situation that puts the community in a better position to eat healthier, higher-quality food.

The isolation also takes away sources of entertainment that one grows quite accustomed to while in an urban setting. Movies? Clubs? Expansive shopping complexes? Nope. The region makes it much more convenient to do outdoor activities such as hiking(!), snowboarding(!!!!!), backpacking, etc. Again, the surroundings are a catalyst for a healthier lifestyle. The lab does its part, too, providing free access to their gym for all employees. It's not a fantastic gym, but for the price, it does everything I want it to do.

Part of my grand-blogging-absence (GBA) included an unexpected 3.5 week trip back to Michigan. This was originally a work trip, as I collaborate with the locals. A sudden death in the family pushed the start of the trip forward considerably, and de-acclimation was on in full force. My exercise schedule at altitude was replaced by... driving around a lot at sea level. My regimen of home cooked meals was quashed by my excitement to be in Ann Arbor, where everything from Indian buffets to Tim Horton's was readily available again. The greatest physical labor I experienced was chasing my oldest around the room. I missed the only significant snow that northern New Mexico received, and haven't been able to snowboard at all.

The end result: I gained 15 pounds. Shit.

To be fair, all of this was completely avoidable. Of course, one can find healthy food (and avoid the Never-Ending Pasta Bowl!), exercise, etc. any where they go. It's just that these things are far easier to find in some places as opposed to others.

Last week, I began the process of re-acclimation. I stopped driving to work and started taking the bus. Because the city bus drops people off at the lab's front gate, there is still a short walk to my office. This, of course, left me gasping for air by the time I began checking emails. Mid-week, I kicked it up a notch by biking to work. It's only three miles, but I couldn't make it without stopping for a rest. Today, I made it farther on my bike, but still had to stop and catch some air. I didn't think that the altitude change would get to me, but it is definitely taking a toll- as are my newly acquired saddle bags (not the ones on my bike.)

The ski hill is closed due to lack of snow. I may break out the snow shoes this coming weekend and challenge myself to get to the top. If the coming snow storm delivers as promised, I may even wax the board. It's clear that I have a long way to go, however, before I'm completely back to pre-GBA shape.

Whiskey Tango Friday: This is real and I have seen it in person.

I know that this has made the rounds on the intarwebs before, but I must bring it up again because...

because...

I HAVE SEEN IT WITH MY OWN EYES.

Okay, not the real thing, but a reprint. A family member gave it to another family member of political standing so that it could be proudly displayed in a government office. The receiving party correctly said that the church-state separation issues raised by such a display would be too much. As for myself, there is just so much wrong with this picture that looking at it for any extended period of time breaks my brain.

Also, I'm back.

Good Internet Monday: NPR's Planet Money

Happy Labor Day. Here's hoping my wife goes into labor. Yeesh.

One thing I've come to enjoy immensely over the past few years is podcasts. I often ride a bus or walk to work, giving me plenty of time to enjoy several different subscriptions. One that I thought I would never subscribe to, or for that matter enjoy so thoroughly, is a financial podcast- NPR's Planet Money.

To be fair, Planet Money is as much a pure financial podcast as Harry Potter is a series of spell books- not at all. Each episode finds a topic, such as the economic state of Jamaica or the status of health care billing and administration, and puts a real face on it by interviewing the people affected by the topic. Concepts that are usually abstract to people who are not deeply involved in them, such as how the Federal Reserve tries to help the economy, are spelled out explicitly and with multiple examples.

One of the best examples is how the crew has explored the housing market crisis by pooling together $1000 to buy a piece of a real toxic asset- a high risk investment package containing thousands of mortgages. The team tracked down the people who are struggling to pay off their mortgages, leading to the "death" of their asset, aptly named "Toxie". As more of the pieces of Toxie go bad, either through foreclosure or bankruptcy, Toxie starts to "die"- that is, the team stops receiving checks that would otherwise pay off their initial investment and, in a healthier economy, yield a profit. The Planet Money staff explains all the ins and outs of how they obtained Toxie, what it contains, and why it is dying so quickly.

The topics covered are broad and varied, ranging from an excellent show concerning the impact of Net Neutrality on the web to "Deep Reads" with economists to deeply examine the current economic situation. Each show is engaging and thought provoking; I highly recommend it

Constitutional Obfuscation

It has been difficult to dodge politics recently, as the coming election compels candidates to throw their pamphlets in your face at every corner. One particular candidate in New Mexico has recently caught my attention, Republican Tom Mullins. He has achieved this by handing out pocket constitutions along with his various informational fliers (which proudly point out that he is a Christian who will defend the constitution!) Excuse my cynicism, but the more someone touts the founding documents as a campaign tool, the more likely they are to have little to no comprehension as to what they say.

I was able to confirm this today. Tom had taken it upon himself to campaign at a local pancake breakfast that my family and I were attending. He stopped by our table, introduced himself (to me, but not my wife who is nine months pregnant but INVISIBLE!), and gave me the opportunity confirm my suspicions through this short exchange:

Spacecataz: (After reviewing his business card) I've noticed that you've been handing out a lot of constitutions.

Tom: (Notably proud of this) Yes.

Spacecataz: Do you believe that the United States is a christian nation?

Tom: (Again, quite proud) Yes.

At this point, I merely handed his card back to him in an attempt to signal my lack of support. I could have pointed out that the first amendment explicitly prohibits the endorsement of one religion over another; I could have enlightened him to Thomas Jefferson's concept of a wall of separation; I could have, perhaps more aggressively, asked to which Christianity he refers when describing our government.

All of those would have been a waste of our time, however. Again, excuse me for being a cynic, but any hope of Mr. Mullins being an enlightened man who would have provided a productive discussion on such topics goes out the window when one reviews his website.

On the Joys of Being a Computational Physicist

This is true:

It's even better, however, when your code takes days to run. No matter how little you're doing, as long as your code is running, you feel like you're doing something.

Whiskey Tango Friday: PIRANHA!!!

Ladies and gentlemen, we have our next "Snakes on a Plane":

Yes, the fish actually made a whirlpool to suck victims into their waiting jaws. I'd be stupid to miss this blockbuster!!!

Bad news and worse news.

A piece of ice has broken free from a Greenlandic glacier and is floating free around the arctic ocean. When I say "piece", I mean a glacier that covers 3 times more surface area than the island of Manhattan. It is so large that its momentum makes the possibility of slowing it down... well, impossible.

The NPR article above places this event in the context of global warming- something that is difficult to avoid given that temperatures in the arctic have climbed 4.5 degrees since 1970 and this is the largest glacier to break free from Greenland since 1962. The implications are staggering- the Greenlandic ice sheet (which I have visited on 8 separate occasions) contains enough water to raise sea levels by 20 feet. However, the writing maintains an even hand by pointing out that it is difficult to directly tie the glacier's newly found freedom to global climate change.

I would like you to contrast this story with the following set of clips taken during the peculiarly strong snow storms that occurred in our nation's capital this past winter:

Get it? Because it's snowing on Al Gore's book, global warming is a hoax! As the description of the video points out, there's no mention that the book points out that such acute weather events could indeed be driven by global climate change. The reporters also fail to mention that while this is going on, we were in the midst of the second warmest January since 1931 (on a global scale, not in D.C.).

The stark contrast between these two reporting styles is breathtaking. The Fox News reporters are wallowing in the information they are withholding from their viewers. How could anyone dependent on this news source possibly develop an informed opinion or make an informed decision?

What is Fox News saying now? We've been in the middle of one of the warmest summers in recorded history, with a phenomenal heat wave wreaking havoc in Russia. And now, a massive piece of the Greenlandic ice sheet has broke free.

No, seriously. What are they saying? I don't watch that crap. Please let me know.