Melting Greenland

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The Greenland ice sheet is a vast body of ice covering 660,235 square miles, roughly 80% of the surface of Greenland. It is the second largest ice body in the world, after the Antarctic Ice Sheet. The ice sheet is almost 1,500 miles long in a north-south direction, and its greatest width is 680 miles. The mean altitude of the ice is 7,005 feet. And it is all melting. Freshwater losses in Greenland have accelerated since the early 1990s, with the south-east of the island seeing losses rise by 50 per cent in less than 20 years, according to new research from the University of Bristol.

"Greenland has been losing increasing amounts of mass. What had been unclear was how much of that was due to losing water to the ocean, as opposed to factors like reduced snowfall." stated Professor Jonathan Bamber from the School of Geographical Sciences.

Such an increase in the volume of fresh water flowing into the Atlantic could interfere with the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), the current that carries warm tropical water to northern Europe.  It could also reduce the ocean's ability to store carbon.

The Greenland Ice Sheet has experienced record melting in recent years and is also likely to contribute substantially to sea level rise. 

If the entire ice sheet were to melt, global sea levels would rise 23.6 feet. Recently, fears have grown that continued climate change will make the Greenland Ice Sheet cross a threshold where long-term melting of the ice sheet is inevitable. Climate models project that local warming in Greenland will be 3 °C (5.4 °F) to 9 °C (16.2 °F) during this century. Such a rise would inundate almost every major coastal city in the world.

Dumping fresh water into the North Atlantic could weaken the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), the vast "conveyor belt" current that carries warm tropical water to northern Europe. It has been suggested that Europe will get colder as a result, but that is unlikely to happen, at least in the next few decades. "That was all blown out of proportion," says Ruth Curry of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts.

The polar oceans are among the world's most important carbon sinks, taking in carbon dioxide from the air and trapping it in their depths — and that could change as a result of the freshwater flux. Curry says Greenland's fresh water will remain at the surface, since the weakened AMOC will be slow to carry it to the bottom. That also means that once this fresh water has absorbed as much carbon dioxide as it can hold, it will not be replaced at the surface by carbon-dioxide-free water that could absorb more of the gas.

For further information see Greenland Ice Sheet.

TSA employs 62,000 people and the annual $8.1 billion budget in 2012

The Transportation Security Administration has started to respond to wide criticism of its operations in a more aggressive manner. In an opinion piece in the Rockland County Times last week, TSA spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein responded to a column by resident Diane Dimond, a syndicated columnist.
”Perhaps the next time Diane and her family fly out of a New York-area airport to a fun vacation spot, they’ll look out the car window at the New York skyline minus the Twin Towers and remember some of the true facts about TSA and why it exists,” Farbstein said, according to Forbes.
Forbes reports that Dimond had many criticisms of TSA practices that Farbstein responded to point-by-point. Included examples were the inconvenience and invasion of privacy in taking one’s shoes, jacket or belt off. She went on to say that TSA agents, “treat all of us like we’re new arrivals at a prison camp.”

Farbstein responded that Dimond, “criticized the very security measures that were designed to keep passengers safe – to help ensure that there is not another 9/11 in her back yard.”
Forbes reports another incident that drew response happened last week when radio talk show host Dana Loesch tweeted about an incident at the Phoenix airport, claiming she was sexually molested after a sensor showed traces of explosives on her. She was upset that the incident took place in private.
But for all of the complaints, most U.S. travelers have a positive opinion of the TSA.
According to a Gallup poll released in August, 54 percent of Americans think TSA is doing either an excellent or a good job of handling airport screening. Among Americans who have flown at least once in the past year, 57 percent have an excellent or good opinion of the agency, reported Forbes.
TSA employs 62,000 people and the annual $8.1 billion budget seems high to many critics who say the same work was done under for far less by private firms before Sept. 11, while under federal guidelines.

DHS/TSA Watch:
http://jackstraw7.tripod.com

Green energy would save European Union trillions by 2050: report

Green energy would save EU trillions by 2050: report

5:07am EDT

By Barbara Lewis
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A green revolution to make EU energy almost totally carbon-free by 2050 would generate 3 trillion euros ($3.9 trillion) in fuel savings, a report commissioned by environmental campaigners said.
The energy shift would already create around half a million extra jobs by 2020, researchers from German aerospace center DLR, which also specializes in energy and transport, found.
The European Union has legislated to ensure that 20 percent of the energy mix is green by 2020, as part of a set of three main environmental goals.
But it has yet to achieve agreement on binding targets beyond 2020, even though non-binding roadmaps have laid out the need for a virtually carbon-free electricity mix by 2050.
Commissioned by Greenpeace and the European Renewable Energy Council (EREC), the 2012 Energyevolution report lays out steps towards almost carbon-free energy. They include curbing energy demand through greater efficiency, increasing investment in wind and solar power and phasing out subsidies for carbon-intensive energy, such as coal.
To bring about the energy transformation, it sees a need to invest about 99 billion euros between now and 2050, but it says the financial gains are much greater.
"Because renewable energy has no fuel costs, the fuel cost savings in the Energyevolution scenario reach a total of 3,010 billion euros up to 2050, or 75 billion per year," the report said.
Another benefit is job-creation. The report finds almost totally green energy would lead to half a million extra jobs compared with business as usual, as renewable energy initially demands more workers than carrying on with fossil fuel.
POLITICAL WILL
The energy revolution requires political will and the report calls on the European Union to agree new targets beyond the 2020 goals to cut carbon by 20 percent, improve energy efficiency by 20 percent and to draw 20 percent of energy from green sources.
"A continuation of the successful triple targets for 2030 will provide industry certainty, mobilize investment in renewable and energy saving technologies and secure the necessary climate ambition," the report says.
European Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard has repeatedly stated her belief in targets as the way to bring about change, but member states have been haggling over whether there should be another set of three goals, as opposed to just a carbon cutting goal or even no binding targets at all.
The report urges a binding goal of 45 percent renewable energy by 2030 and also wants to raise the 2020 ambitions to introduce a binding 30 percent carbon cut rather than the existing 20 percent cut.
"The expert consensus is that a fundamental shift in the way we consume and generate energy must begin immediately and be well under way within the next 10 years in order to avert the worst impacts of climate change," the report said.
"Each year we emit almost 30 billion metric tons (33 billion tons) of carbon equivalent," the report said further. "We are literally filling up the sky." ($1 = 0.7674 euros)

Rice Agriculture Accelerates Global Warming: More Greenhouse Gas Per Grain of Rice

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Asian farmer planting rice. More carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and rising temperatures cause rice agriculture to release more of the potent greenhouse gas methane (CH4) for each kilogram of rice it produces. (Credit: © beachboyx10 / Fotolia)

ScienceDaily (Oct. 19, 2012) — More carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and rising temperatures cause rice agriculture to release more of the potent greenhouse gas methane (CH₄) for each kilogram of rice it produces, new research published in this week's online edition of Nature Climate Change reveals.

"Our results show that rice agriculture becomes less climate friendly as our atmosphere continues to change. This is important, because rice paddies are one of the largest human sources of methane, and rice is the world's second-most produced staple crop," said Dr Kees Jan van Groenigen, Research Fellow at the Botany Department at the School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, and lead author of the study.
Van Groenigen, along with colleagues from Northern Arizona University and the University of California in Davis, gathered all published research to date from 63 different experiments on rice paddies, mostly from Asia and North America. The common theme in the experiments was that they measured how rising temperatures and extra carbon dioxide in the atmosphere affect rice yields and the amount of methane that is released by rice paddies.
The research team used a technique called meta-analysis, a statistical tool for finding general patterns in a large body of experimental data. "Two strong patterns emerged when we analysed all the data: first, more CO₂ boosted emissions of methane from rice paddies, and second, higher temperatures caused a decline in rice yields," explained Professor Bruce Hungate of Northern Arizona University and co-author of the study.
Methane in rice paddies is produced by microscopic organisms that respire CO₂, like humans respire oxygen. More CO₂ in the atmosphere makes rice plants grow faster, and the extra plant growth supplies soil microorganisms with extra energy, pumping up their metabolism. Increasing CO₂ levels will also boost rice yields, but to a smaller extent then CH₄ emissions. As a result, the amount of CH₄ emitted per kilogram of rice yield will increase. Rising temperatures were found to have only small effects on CH₄ emissions, but because they decrease rice yield, they also increase the amount of CH₄ emitted per kilogram of rice. "Together, higher CO₂ concentrations and warmer temperatures predicted for the end of this century will about double the amount of CH₄ emitted per kilogram of rice produced.," explained Professor Chris van Kessel of the University of California in Davis and co-author of the study.
"Because global demand for rice will increase further with a growing world population, our results suggest that without additional measures, the total CH₄ emissions from rice agriculture will strongly increase..."
However, the authors point out that there are several options available to reduce CH₄ emissions from rice agriculture. For instance, management practices such as mid-season drainage and using alternative fertilizers have been shown to reduce CH₄ emissions from rice paddies. Moreover, by switching to more heat tolerant rice cultivars and by adjusting sowing dates, yield declines due to temperature increases can largely be prevented, thereby reducing the effect of warming on CH₄ emissions per yield. "These findings, together with our own results really stress the need for mitigation and adaptation measures to secure global food supply while at the same time keeping greenhouse gas emissions in check." van Groenigen concluded.

Third Party US Presidential Debates 2012

Here’s a video with highlights of Tuesday’s (Oct 24, 2012) third party presidential debate:
http://youtu.be/iiPtJkK58lo
Participating were Jill Stein, Rocky Anderson, Virgil Goode, and Gary Johnson. Moderating was Larry King. Larry was a bit unprepared, but his questions were far superior to those asked at any of the corporate funded debates thus far. They weren’t his questions, though, as they’d been submitted through the internet and selected by http://FreeAndEqual.org Also contributing to the debate was an audience that was permitted to applaud and frequently did so. Johnson was the clear favorite of the crowd before any words were said.
The first question dealt with election reform, and Stein and Anderson made clear they would clean the money out of elections. Goode proposed to ban PACs but to let the money flow through individuals. Johnson made no proposal to limit private election spending, even though it’s the primary reason most Americans have no idea he’s running for president. Instead, Johnson claimed he’d like politicians to wear NASCAR suits advertising their funders. However, he was not wearing one.
Following the first question, it was pointed out to King that he’d skipped opening statements. So those were made. Stein and Anderson described a nation in crisis, suffering from expanding poverty, lack of healthcare, homelessness, and an erosion of civil liberties. Goode tackled the pressing issues of the deficit, immigration, and his desire for term limits (as he would throughout the evening). As a former constituent of Goode, I’ll have you know we had to vote him out before he would leave. Johnson focused his comments on the need to end wars, including drone wars, as well as the war on drugs. He agreed with Stein and Anderson on civil liberties, proposing to repeal the PATRIOT Act and indefinite detention. But he also proposed to virtually eliminate taxes. Johnson tried to address the apparently unfamiliar topic of poverty that Stein and Anderson had raised, referring repeatedly to policies that “disparagingly” impacted the poor (he meant disproportionately).
The second question dealt with the drug war, and all but Goode proposed to end it, and to reduce incarceration. Anderson said that he would pardon all prisoners convicted of only drug crimes. Goode said he’d keep marijuana illegal but cut funding for enforcing that law. Cutting funding in his view is clearly desirable even when he approves of the funding.
The third question was whether military spending should be so incredibly high. All four agreed with the majority of the rest of us that it needs to be cut. Goode didn’t specify how much he would cut, and his record suggests he would cut little or nothing. Johnson proposed cutting 43%. Stein and Anderson failed to specify but have both said elsewhere, including on their websites (which will always remain the best source of most information debates provide), that they would cut 50%. Johnson, Anderson, and Stein, listed off the wars they would end. Stein stressed that climate change is where she would move much of the money.
Tuesday’s debate included a great deal of denouncing the Obama-Romney position on a range of topics, and a great deal of developing slight differences among agreeing candidates. But the fourth question brought out dramatic disagreement. Asked about the cost of college, Goode said he would cut spending on education, apparently because cutting spending is just more important than anything else. Johnson, in a slight variation, said he’d stop funding education because without student loans students would just avoid education and eventually schools would have to lower their costs. With at least one leader of the Chicago Teachers strike in the room, Stein and Anderson said they would make college free. This resulted in Johnson and Goode arguing that there is no such thing as free, that the money must come from somewhere. A flight attendant on the airplane I took out of Chicago shared their view when I asked her if the online internet was free and she rather angrily informed me that “Nothing is free, sir.” But of course the porno-cancer-scans and gropes from the TSA are free. What we choose to fund collectively is often not thought of as a consumer good at all. Stein and Anderson came back with an argument that “we cannot afford NOT to invest in education.” But neither of them pointed out that by cutting the military and/or taxing billionaires we could have far more money than needed. At no time in the course of the debate was the room full of libertarians (who imagine we all have an equal right to spend money) informed that 400 Americans have more money than half the country.
The fifth question dealt with the presidential power to imprison anyone forever without a charge or a trial, a power contained in the 2011 National “Defense” Authorization Act, and a power which Obama’s subordinates are currently struggling in court to uphold. All four candidates, coming from very different places, agreed that this power needs to be removed, along with powers of assassination, warrantless spying, and retribution against whistleblowers. Clearly there is a broad public consensus on these issues that is derailed by lesser-evilism, with half of those who care about such things holding their nose and backing Republicans, and the other half Democrats.
A sixth and final question, before closing statements, asked the four participants for one way in which they would amend the Constitution. Goode and Johnson proposed term limits, a rather silly solution that would not fix elections but just remove one person from them, accelerating the pace of the revolving door between government and lobbyist jobs. Anderson proposed an equal rights amendment barring discrimination based on gender or sexual preference. And Stein, to huge applause, proposed an amendment clarifying that money is not speech and corporations are not people.
Here’s the full video:
http://www.c-span.org/Events/Third-Party-Presidential-Debate/10737435220-1/

Major Solar Flare Erupts From the Sun

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  Enlarge PhotoSPACE.com/SDO/NASA - NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory satellite captured this photo of the X-class solar flare unleashed from the sun Oct. 22, 2012.

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• Enlarge GalleryA solar prominence rose up and swept away from the sun as captured in this image …

The sun unleased a powerful solar flare late Monday (Oct. 22), releasing waves of radiation into space that have already caused a short radio blackout on Earth.

The flare erupted from the sunspot AR 11598 (short for Active Region 11598), and reached peak brightness at 11:22 p.m. EDT (0322 GMT this morning, Oct. 23), according to scientists working on NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), a space telescope that constantly monitors the sun with high-definition cameras. It ranked as an X1.8 solar flare, one of the strongest types of solar flares, according to the U.S. Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) run by NOAA and the National Weather Service.
The same sunspot produced three strong flares before this one in just the two days since it became visible from Earth's perspective. "This means more flares are probably in the offing, and they will become increasingly Earth-directed as the sunspot turns toward our planet in the days ahead," astronomer Tony Phillips wrote on Spaceweather.com, a website that tracks skywatching and space weather events.
Solar flares are caused when magnetic activity ramps up in certain patches, called sunspots, on the surface of our star. Scientists measure the strength of solar flares in terms of energy classes, with X-class flares the most powerful sun storms. Moderate flares rank as class M storms and can supercharge Earth's northern lights displays when aimed at our planet. Class C solar flares are the weakest of the bunch and have little effect on Earth. [Photos: Sunspots on Earth's Closest Star]
Monday's solar flare was captured in photos and video by SDO, and appears as a bright white flash coming off the sun. The flare was a short-lived type of solar eruption called an impulsive flare (as opposed to the other type, called a gradual flare).
"Impulsive flares aren't generally associated with severe space weather, and additionally, this region is still several days away from directly facing Earth from center disk," SWPC officials wrote. "Nonetheless, the potential for continued activity remains, so stay tuned for updates as Region 1598 makes its way across the visible disk."

Solar flares often release bubbles of charged plasma (called coronal mass ejections) into space that, when they impact Earth, can cause geomagnetic storms that disrupt radio communications and power grids and create especially beautiful displays of the northern and southern lights (auroras). This flare, however, did not unleash a coronal mass ejection, so it is predicted to cause little disruption on Earth and no special auroras. Its powerful radiation was enough, though, to briefly disrupt radios here last night.

The sun is getting more and more active lately as it approaches an expected peak of magnetic activity in 2013. This activity naturally waxes and wanes on an 11-year weather pattern. The sun's current cycle is called Solar Cycle 24.

Follow SPACE.com on Twitter @Spacedotcom. We're also on Facebook & Google+. 

• X-Flare Explodes Towards Earth -- Radio Black Out Coming? | Video
• Stunning Photos of Solar Flares & Sun Storms
• The Sun's Wrath: Worst Solar Storms in History

California Community Colleges Plunge World Into the "Mark of the Beast" System

California Community Colleges Plunge World Into the "Mark of the Beast" System

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Isle of Patmos, Greece

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Oct 29, 2012

Well, its now official.  California Community Colleges have now plunged the world into

the dreaded "mark of the beast" global economic control system.  Beginning with Cabrillo College in Aptos, California

and culminating at the College of the Siskiyous in Mt Shasta, California,  the California Community College system

has initiated an illegal, privacy violating, homeland security ordained spy and surveillance control grid designed

to monitor, track and record student's online internet activity.

Complete with username/password protocols, electronic barcoding of identity and computer use and

numerous surveillance cameras spying on student's internet use, a system has now been initiated that

institutionally links human identity to the internet.

This is the beginning of the "Mark of the Beast"- see Revelations 13, New Testament, Holy Bible.

The "Mark of the Beast" is DESIGNED to damn men's souls, because it signifies total submission to the State

and to the current "god" of this world: Lucifer.

For all those who built, proliferated and now run this illegal, privacy violating system of human control and

surveillance, you WILL take the "mark" when it comes out, for you won't be able to buy nor sell without it.

For ALL those who have opted-in to this system (builders and users alike) as well as those who willingly participate in it, your souls will be DAMNED

forever in Hell-Fire at the Judgement- this is absolutely decreed in Holy Scripture.

2012 was the pivotal year that gave human civilization the choice between transformation (into a global green world order) or annihilation

(into a global fascist police state).  The choice for annihilation, heralded by a global economic control system known as the

"Mark of the Beast", has now been officially made.  The human species is now on the road to ruin for which there is now

no turning back.

The California Community College system, with its flagrant violations of student's privacy and dignity rights, will bear primary responsibility

(along with the US Dept of Homeland Security) for this historical descent  into the black hole of death and destruction that will predictably

ensue and whose "event horizon" and planetary shift we are now crossing over  in the year 2012.

Jonas the Prophet

Computer Science Major

California Community Colleges

Isle of Patmos, Greece

http://alquedahq.20m.com/main.html

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