More thin gruel. Surface won’t turn on, then does.

Chaos Manor View, Thursday, March 26, 2015

0915 Niven will be here shortly to take me to Pasadena and JPL where we will spend the day.

I have a note from a reader: NASA is being cautious because some think reactionless drive does in fact work. We can hope, but extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof…

Meanwhile I vamp until Larry gets here.

My Surface Pro won’t turn on. It got a bunch of updates yesterday, and died. Nothing I can do causes it to turn on: it was that went when I went to bed, and still is. I have held the button down for a count of 100 both in the docking station and out. More when I know more…

1530: I left the Surface out of the dock and not plugged to power. When I got home a few minutes ago I pushed the button. It turned on. I’ll experiment more but it appears to be all right. Precious accepted my user name and password and is welcoming me. Larry is here and we’ll go to LASFS. More tomorrow.

Re: NASA refutes Mann and Rahmstorf – Finds Atlantic ‘Conveyor Belt’ Not Slowing

Jerry,

Further to the Science Daily story that you were forwarded, from that article linked in “Thin Gruel”,

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/03/150323132746.htm

“The gradual but accelerating melting of the Greenland ice-sheet, caused by human-made global warming, is a possible major contributor to the slowdown. Further weakening could impact marine ecosystems and sea level as well as weather systems in the US and Europe.”

But this from 2010:

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/atlantic20100325.html

“PASADENA, Calif. – New NASA measurements of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, part of the global ocean conveyor belt that helps regulate climate around the North Atlantic, show no significant slowing over the past 15 years. The data suggest the circulation may have even sped up slightly in the recent past.”

And this article pulling in research on the issue from different sources:

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2015/03/24/michael-mann-and-stefan-rahmstorf-claim-the-gulf-stream-is-slowing-due-to-greenland-ice-melt-except-reality-says-otherwise/

Notice that the there is not any “accelerating melting of the Greenland ice-sheet” as claimed in the Science Daily article.

http://www.dmi.dk/uploads/tx_dmidatastore/webservice/b/m/s/d/e/accumulatedsmb.png

If anything, it appears that seasonal melting is slowing and there is a small increase in year to year ice mass. That chart, referenced in the article mentioned above, is from

http://www.dmi.dk/en/groenland/maalinger/greenland-ice-sheet-surface-mass-budget/

Regards,

George

https://techpinions.com/its-a-different-microsoft-and-it-matters/39351

Back in the days of Microsoft’s glories, the company lived on one simple approach to the world: Every decision the company made was to promote Windows. In a period when PCs were the only thing that mattered and Windows’ control was close to absolute, this was a simple formula to building market and profits.

The nature of the industry began changing quite a while ago, but business stayed pretty good for Microsoft and there was little reason to redo things. But having finally been hit by huge changes–especially the realization that the PC, Windows or otherwise, no longer completely dominated the market–Microsoft is going through a major rearrangement that finds Apple and Android as important as Windows.

Looked interesting to me.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonbloomberg/2015/03/24/digital-cloud-modern-and-cost-effective-surprise-its-the-mainframe/

Digital? Cloud? Modern And Cost-Effective? Surprise! It’s The Mainframe

Comment Now

Follow Comments

What’s up with IBM IBM +0.88%? On the one hand, IBM is betting the company on the cloud, yet on the other, they are doubling down on the mainframe – sinking over a billion dollars into their new IBM z13 model in their z Systems mainframe line.

Furthermore, the explosion of mobile traffic is throwing a wrench into the works as digital transformation becomes the driving factor in enterprise technology purchasing decisions. Do these apparently competing forces spell trouble for Big Blue?

On the contrary – there’s method to IBM’s madness. The z13 mainframe is in fact one of the most powerful digital transaction platforms available – and in many ways also supports enterprise cloud efforts.

http://www.wired.com/2015/03/60-gadget-thatll-make-car-hacking-easier-ever/

A $60 Gadget That Makes Car Hacking Far Easier

The average automobile today isn’t necessarily secured against hackers, so much as obscured from them: Digitally controlling a car’s electronics remains an arcane, specialized skill among security researchers. But that’s changing fast. And soon, it could take as little as $60 and a laptop to begin messing around with a car’s digital innards.

: white roof –

Hi Jerry,

Just one data point for your white roof theory. Our house used to be pale blue, and now it’s dark brown. Our utility bills dropped by about 10% in the winter – and went up by about 20% in the summer (the greater amount is because the social engineers artificially raise the price of electricity in the summer beyond market rates). The net is still a cost savings to me. So what I need is chameleon paint that changes color with the season!

Cheers,

Doug=