SWCAMBORNE

It is rare that the global warming debate is influenced by data so I hope that I am not commiting a major faux paus by doing this.

Bonaire Ocean 2006 + 2mm

While speaking to my friend Phil C. at PJTC the other night the subject of the new UN Climate change report came up. Phil mentioned that he works on a JPL project that has been using satellites to measure the height of the oceans since 1992. There data shows that the oceans have been rising steadily since they started measuring at about 2mm per year. This means about 200mm per century or about 8 inches. Slightly less than the 20 feet plus that Al Gore used in his fake science documentary to scare us.

Here is the link to the graph:

http://www.aviso.oceanobs.com/html/actualites/applis/niveau_moyen_uk.html

Why data like this is not a the center of the debate is a question worth addressing.

- Mark Twain

Thanks to Jack Perry and The Respect Factor for finding this quote.

My choosing the Bears was another triumph of hope over experience.

Oh well I have to do what I do best.  Which is make mistakes.

All of the teams that I pretended to root for this year lost along the way, First Philadelphia then San Diego and finally the New Orleans Saints.  So now in the Superbowl (Bears vs Colts) I’m going to root for the Bears.  I expect them to win by more than 7 points.  No logic or insight is involved.  They are the underdog, they have better defense and Payton Manning is a little bit to perfect for my taste.  This prediction is made strickly because I enjoy contests more if I have a commitment to one side or the other.

On Thursday the Men of Stone took three new rocks to Ventura to be drilled.

We used some new equipment, a rented engine hoist, to move the stones this time and it went as well as any stone event we have had.

Maneuvering the big one.

At Art City in Ventura they have much better equipment:

Stone #6

Stone #7

Stone #8 (a beautiful pink stone)

Sparrows love to come and eat at the bird feeder outside my office:

Sparrows

However when the Doves come to feed the Sparrows soon make themselves scarce:

Doves Rule

The morals of the story:

• Bigger is better
• A name synonomous with peace does not make you peaceful
• At the bird feeder there is a pecking order.

There has been more talk lately in the US about creating a national ID card.  The congress has passed a bill that will over the next few years make the States issue drivers licenses that are more uniform and are harder to replicate.  It seems to me that this is another instance where the governments are again behind private industry.  We already have multiple choices of Internatonal ID Cards.  Here are a couple:

And of course Mastercard.  Giant corporations carefully collect data on who is credit worthy and make very few mistakes.  A nation that wanted to securely ID all of its citizens could pay the credit card issuers to issue cards to all of the people who don’t already have one.

• For those who don’t want or don’t deserve credit the card could be for ID purposes only
• Private ID cards would solve the civil liberties questions because the governments would only have access to the data on a need to know basis, just like a merchant.
• The cost would be low because the infrastructure is in place.
• It would help to move us toward a cash free economy.
• The various issuers would compete to provide the service and drive prices down.

Another win win idea.