30495329
submission
dtjohnson writes:
Iran is being
deleted from the world banking system Society for Worldwide
Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT)
computers as of Saturday
at 1600 UTC. Once the SWIFT codes for Iranian banks are
deleted, Iranian banks will no longer be able to transfer funds to and
from other worldwide banks making Iranian international commerce into a
barter operation. SWIFT is taking the action at the request of EU
members to comply with international sanctions against Iran due to its
program to develop nuclear weapons. The effect will be to
drastically hinder Iran's ability to execute international business
transactions. This is serious folks.
24053410
submission
dtjohnson writes:
The new "Times
Atlas of the World" claims in publicity
for its newest edition that global warming has turned 15 percent of
Greenland's former ice-covered land "green and ice-free." Now,
however, scientists from the Scott Polar Research Institute say
those figures, based on data from the National
Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) are wrong. "Recent satellite
images of Greenland make it clear that there are in fact still numerous
glaciers and permanent ice cover where the new Times Atlas shows
ice-free conditions and the emergence of new lands," they say in a
letter that has been sent to the Times. Others
have pointed out that if 15 percent of Greenland ice cover had been
lost, then sea levels would have risen by 1 meter...which has not
happened. Perhaps yet another climategate is brewing.
23209950
submission
dtjohnson writes:
A study published today predicts
that solar storms are going to become increasingly disruptive to
satellites and communications in the coming decades as the sun cycles
towards a minimum of activity. "The work, published in Geophysical Research Letters,
predicts that once the Sun shifts toward an era of lower solar
activity, more hazardous radiation will reach Earth. The team
says the Sun is currently at a grand solar maximum. This phase
began in the 1920s — and has lasted throughout the space age....The
evidence seems to indicate that although there are fewer solar storms
once the Sun leaves its grand maximum, they are more powerful, faster
and therefore carry more particles."
3475823
submission
dtjohnson writes:
The National Snow and Ice Data
Center (NSIDC) has been at the forefront of predicting doom in the
arctic as ice melts due to global warming. In May, 2008
they went so far as to predict that the North Pole would be ice-free during
the 2008 'melt season' leading to a lively slashdot discussion.
Today, however, they say that they have been the victims of 'sensor drift' that lead
to an underestimation of arctic ice extent by as much as 500,000 square
kilometers. The problem was discovered after they received
emails from puzzled readers, asking why obviously sea-ice-covered
regions were showing up as ice free open ocean. It turns
out that the NSIDC relys on an older, less-reliable method of tracking
sea ice extent called SSM/I that does not agree with a newer method
called AMSR-E. So why doesn't NSIDC use the newer AMSR-E
data? "We do not use AMSR-E data in our analysis because it
is not consistent with our historical data." Turns out that the
AMSR-E data only goes back to 2002 which is probably not long enough
for the NSIDC to make sweeping conclusions about melting.
The AMSR-E data is updated daily and is available to the public.
Thus far, sea ice
extent in 2009 is tracking ahead of 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008 so
the predictions of an ice free north pole might be premature.
1340963
submission
dtjohnson writes:
A Harvard law school professor has submitted arguments on behalf of
Joel Tenenbaum in RIAA v. Tenenbaum in which Professor Charles
Neeson claims that the underlying law that the RIAA uses is actually a
criminal, rather than civil, statute and is therefore
unconstitutional. According to this article, "Neeson
charges that the federal law is essentially a criminal statute
in that it seeks to punish violators with minimum statutory penalties
far in excess of actual damages. The market value of a song is 99 cents
on iTunes; of seven songs, $6.93. Yet the statutory damages are a
minimum of $750 per song, escalating to as much as $150,000 per song
for infringement "committed willfully."" If the law is a criminal
statute, Neeson then claims that it violates the 5th
and 8th
amendments and is therefore unconstitutional. Litigation will
take a while but this may be the end for RIAA litigation, at least
until they can persuade
Congress to pass a new law.
836455
submission
dtjohnson writes:
Data from the United Kingdom Metereological Office suggests that 2008 will
be an unusually cold year due to the La Nina effect in the western
Pacific ocean. Not to worry, though, as the La Nina effect has
faded recently so its effect on next years temperatures will be
reduced. However, another natural cycle, the Atlantic
Multidecadal Oscillation, is predicted to hold global temperatures
steady for the next decade before global warming takes our planet into
new warmth. If these predictions are correct, there must be
a lot of planetary heat being stored away somewhere...unless the heat
output from the sun
is decreasing
rather than increasing
or the heat being absorbed by the earth is decreasing due to changes in
the earth's albedo.
