Freedom in decline worldwide: US report
Global freedom declined for a fifth straight year in 2010 as authoritarian regimes dug in worldwide and crime and unrest plagued democracies like Mexico, a US watchdog said Thursday.
In “Freedom in the World 2011” the Washington-based Freedom House said it had documented the longest continuous period of decline since it began compiling the annual index nearly 40 years ago.
“A total of 25 countries showed significant declines in 2010, more than double the 11 countries exhibiting noteworthy gains,” the group said.
“Authoritarian regimes like those in China, Egypt, Iran, Russia, and Venezuela continued to step up repressive measures with little significant resistance from the democratic world,” it said.
The recent decline “threatens gains dating to the post-Cold War era in Africa, Latin America, Asia and the former Soviet bloc.”
The report classifies countries as free, partly free or not free based on individuals’ ability to exercise political and civil rights, taking into account political systems and other factors like war and crime.
Mexico, which along with Ukraine, Djibouti and Ethiopia saw its status decline, Read more…
The Deadly Sun
Often we think of the deadly nature with the sun as one of fire and heat but the opposite can be true as well. If the sun doesn’t produce enough heat we on earth can can freeze – there is massive evidence of this in our geological record. Also think of how cold the planets in our own solar system get the further away from the sun they are. 
Whilst scientists in some fields in recent decades want to play down the effects of the sun on the earth’s climate our climate history shows it plays a huge role. The sun typically has an 11 year cycle of sunspot activity which can extend and become quieter or contract and become more busy. History tells us when it is low in sunspots (typically a long cycle) then the world cools. At the moment Solar Cycle 24 is extending and losing it’s sunspots.
According to the Laymans Sunspot Count the sun today is again balnk of any sunspots. As we extend into solar cycle 24 we can get more of an idea of the anticipated peak of the cycle as it typically follows a curve when the sunspot number is smoothed (averaged). Looking at the graph of the sun from Layman’s Sunspot count website we see;
What we are witnessing in Solar Cycle 24 is a sunspot cycle that could peak as low as 30 – 35. It is currently tracking below Solar Cycle 5 which was part of a cold period on earth that correlated with the Dalton Minimum. We also find the sunspots are reducing in Read more…
Don’t Follow Wikileaks or Big Brother will be following you!
The Justice Dept. in its ongoing battle to frighten people from sites that might reveal embarassing truths about the U.S. government, issued subpoenas seeking information on Wikileaks associates and people who regularly read their twitter feeds. The move resulted in several thousand Twitter followers dropping out as followers.
It is a bit late of course. The subpoenas would still cover their earlier activity. The Justice Dept. was hoping to obtain not just IP addresses, but mailing addresses and banking information from the people involved. However, Twitter is not likely to have any banking data.
Fortunately Twitter refused to comply with the requests and challenged the act and informed the targets as well. However, Wikileaks lawyer Mark Stephens believe that similar subpoenas may have been sent to other companies such as Skype, and Facebook. THis has yet to be confirmed.
Even though Wikileaks has not any charges against the site, it is being treated not only as a criminal but as some type of terrorist organisation. Certainly the organisation seems to be spreading terror within the U.S. government. The government is pressuring many large corporations to help silence the site and cut off funding and other support.
Brazil flood and mudslide deaths rise
More than 420 people have now been killed by flooding and mudslides in south-eastern Brazil, officials say.
About 200 people have died in the town of Nova Friburgo, some 175 in Teresopolis and dozens more in Petropolis, media report. Thousands of people have been made homeless.
Rio de Janeiro Governor Sergio Cabral blamed local governments for allowing poor building and illegal occupations.
President Dilma Rousseff has toured damaged areas in Nova Friburgo.
She vowed that there would be “firm action” by the government.
Ms Rousseff was accompanied by Mr Cabral and other politicians and later left for a press conference in Rio, where she spoke of the “dramatic” scenes she had seen.
Expressing solidarity with the victims, she said: “The suffering of the people is very great.”
‘It was hell’
Heavy rain fell early on Thursday as rescuers resumed their search but l Read more…
Earth Is Twice as Dusty as in 19th Century, Research Shows
ScienceDaily
If the house seems dustier than it used to be, it may not be a reflection on your housekeeping skills. The amount of dust in the Earth’s atmosphere has doubled over the last century, according to a new study; and the dramatic increase is influencing climate and ecology around the world.
Mahowald presented the research at the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco Dec. 13.
Desert dust and climate influence each other directly and indirectly through a host of intertwined systems. Dust limits the amount of solar radiation that reaches the Earth, for example, a factor that could mask the warming effects of increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide. It also can influence clouds and precipitation, leading to droughts; which, in turn, leads to desertification and more dust.
Ocean chemistry is also intricately involved. Dust is a major source of iron, which is vital for plankton and other organisms that draw carbon out of the atmosphere.
To measure fluctuations in desert dust over the century, the researchers gathered existing data from ice cores, lake sediment and coral, each of which contain information about past concentrations of desert dust in the region. They then linked each sample with its likely source region and calculated the rate of dust deposition over time. Applying components of a computer modeling system known as the Community Climate System Model, the researchers reconstructed the influence of desert dust on temperature, precipitation, ocean iron deposition and terrestrial carbon uptake over time.
Among their results, the researchers found that regional changes in temperature and precipitation caused a global reduction in terrestrial carbon uptake of 6 parts per million (ppm) over the 20th century. The model also showed that dust deposited in oceans increased carbon uptake from the atmosphere by 6 percent, or 4 ppm, over the same time period.
While the majority of research related to aerosol impacts on climate is focused on anthropogenic aerosols (those directly emitted by humans through combustion), Mahowald said, the study highlights the important role of natural aerosols as well.
“Now we finally have some information on how the desert dust is fluctuating. This has a really big impact for the understanding of climate sensitivity,” she said.
It also underscores the importance of gathering more data and refining the estimates. “Some of what we’re doing with this study is highlighting the best available data. We really need to look at this more carefully. And we really need more paleodata records,” she said.
Meanwhile, the study is also notable for the variety of fields represented by its contributors, she said, which ranged from marine geochemistry to computational modeling. “It was a fun study to do because it was so interdisciplinary. We’re pushing people to look at climate impacts in a more integrative fashion.”
Magnetic Pole Shift May Close Airports
The recent changes at Tampa Bay International Airport regarding magnetic pole re-calibration and runway closure, chart alignment and runway number paint, could become a normal procedure for airports across the land. As an example nearby Peter O’Knight Airport is also scheduling similar changes at their facility.
It’s no surprise to many people that the Earth’s magnetic north pole has always wobbled over geological time, but what may be surprising is the speed at which the magnetic north pole has been recently moving and accelerating.
Although the magnetic north pole was first scientifically located in 1831, during 1904 it was discovered that the pole had begun moving to the northeast at about 9 miles a year (15 kilometers). Scientists in 1989 discovered that the pole shift speed was accelerating and had increased to 35 miles a year (56 kilometers), and was heading directly towards Read more…
Huge asteroid will hit Antarctica in 2012?
Update: Jan 13, 2011.
If you caught Starfire Tor on CoastToCoastAM last week you may have heard her mention that ‘they’, the PowersThatBe know that an incoming near earth object is going hit earth sometime in the next 2 years. There is evidence to suggest the object is going to strike one of the poles… most likely the south pole. Special Scientific teams have been down in Antarctica mapping the ice shelf for probable weak points. The object is rumored to be 800 meters wide and when it hits the south pole the entire ice shelf will collapse within months.
A University of British Columbia Professor published an online article that projected an 800m asteroid would hit Antarctica in the fall of 2012. His article was on the http://www.phas.ubc.ca website Read more…
Iran announces new satellite launch plan
Iran is planning to launch a new satellite into orbit by the end of March, according to the country’s semi-official Fars News Agency.
Wednesday’s announcement for the planned launch of the Fajr — or “Dawn” — satellite follows a recent statement by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on strengthening the country’s space-based presence.
The satellite “will be launched into space from an Iranian launch-pad and will have an Iranian exchange station and control station,” Ahmadinejad said, according to Fars.
Iran’s first research satellite — named “Omid,” or “Hope” — completed 700 orbits over seven weeks before reentering the Earth’s atmosphere last April, Fars noted.
Ahmadinejad asserted that Iran now plans to send astronauts into space by 2019 as opposed an earlier announced timeline of 2024, Fars reported.
Airports Consider Using Private Security Screeners
Following the furor over invasive airport security screenings and personal pat-downs, some airports are now considering replacing government security screeners with private companies.
It’s a step the new chairman of the House Transportation Committee has been urging the nation’s airports to take. But it’s not clear travelers would notice much of a difference.
The Kansas City International Airport is one of 17 in the United States where the screeners work for private contractors, not the Transportation Security Administration.
The airport’s director, Mark VanLoh, is expecting to be busy this winter: “I will be giving a lot of tours in the next few months from airports all over the country coming to Kansas City to check us out.”
Using private contractors does make a difference, VanLoh says.
“In my opinion, these contract employees — they’re not federal employees; they’re not guaranteed a job for life,” he says. “If they don’t meet the performance goals or maybe they’re consistently rude, or maybe they miss objects that go through the machine, they are terminated. I can’t remember how easy that would be to do with a federal employee. I don’t think it is.”
Under TSA Supervision
Kansas City was one of the first airports after the Sept. 11 attacks to use screeners hired by private contractors. The Aviation and Transportation Security Act of 2001, which created the TSA, also gave airports the option of using private security screeners. Those that have range in size from San Francisco’s international airport to the regional facility in Tupelo, Miss.
With private screeners, the security line operates the same way it does at airports where TSA handles the screening: Travelers remove their shoes; take out their laptops. They go through the same full-body scanners Read more…
South African Corn Rises as Dry Weather Stresses Argentina Crop
Corn in South Africa advanced as dry weather continues to stress crops in Argentina, the world’s largest shipper of the grain after the U.S., raising concerns that global stockpiles may be depleted.
White corn for March delivery, the most active contract on the South African Futures Exchange, gained 28 rand, or 2.2 percent, to close trade at 1,328 rand ($194) a metric ton. Meal made from the grain is the country’s staple food.
Argentina will continue to have a rainfall deficit in the seven days from yesterday, Telvent DTN Inc. said in a forecast. The lack of rain, combined with above-normal temperatures, will stress pollinating corn and developing soybeans, it said.
Yellow corn for March delivery advanced 36 rand, or 2.6 percent, to 1,442 rand a ton. The grain is used mainly as animal feed in South Africa.
Wheat for March delivery fell 1 rand to 2,888 rand a ton.
Gains or losses for the most active contracts of three additional crops today were as follows. All prices are in rand and the crops are sold per ton:
Today’s Price Previous Close % Change Sunflowers 4,219 4,186 +0.8 Soybeans 3,320 3,270 +1.5 Sorghum 1,500 1,500 0.0
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