Temperature Monitors Report Widescale Global Cooling — Daily Tech

Anecdotal evidence of temperature drops all over the globe have now been replaced by hard science.

Over the past year, anecdotal evidence for a cooling planet has exploded. China has its coldest winter in 100 years. Baghdad sees its first snow in all recorded history. North America has the most snowcover in 50 years, with places like Wisconsin the highest since record-keeping began. Record levels of Antarctic sea ice, record cold in Minnesota, Texas, Florida, Mexico, Australia, Iran, Greece, South Africa, Greenland, Argentina, Chile — the list goes on and on.

No more than anecdotal evidence, to be sure. But now, that evidence has been supplanted by hard scientific fact. All four major global temperature tracking outlets (Hadley, NASA’s GISS, UAH, RSS) have released updated data. All show that over the past year, global temperatures have dropped precipitously.

A compiled list of all the sources can be seen here. The total amount of cooling ranges from 0.65C up to 0.75C — a value large enough to wipe out nearly all the warming recorded over the past 100 years. All in one year’s time. For all four sources, it’s the single fastest temperature change ever recorded, either up or down.

The statement “[a] value large enough to wipe out nearly all the warming recorded over the past 100 years” is profound. Of course, the money-makers have their bases covered:

Let’s hope those factors stop fast. Cold is more damaging than heat. The mean temperature of the planet is about 54 degrees. Humans — and most of the crops and animals we depend on — prefer a temperature closer to 70.

Historically, the warm periods such as the Medieval Climate Optimum were beneficial for civilization. Corresponding cooling events such as the Little Ice Age, though, were uniformly bad news.

Ok, so which is it, again? I forgot. Is “global warming” good or bad?

More global warming debunking here.

Military Hopes to Bring Down Satellite — AP

The U.S. military is hoping to bring down a decaying (falling to Earth) satellite that is expected to make its way to the ground at least partially intact.

The Pentagon counted down Wednesday toward an unprecedented effort to shoot down a dying and potentially deadly U.S. spy satellite, using a souped-up missile fired from a ship in the Pacific.

The timing was tricky. For the best chance to succeed, the military awaited a combination of favorable factors: steady seas around the Navy cruiser that would fire the missile, optimum positioning of the satellite as it passed in polar orbit and the readiness of an array of space- and ground-based sensors to help cue the missile and track the results.

The operation was so extraordinary, with such intense international publicity and political ramifications, that Defense Secretary Robert Gates — not a military commander — was to make the final decision to pull the trigger.

The ramifications for either success or failure are great. If it is a failure, some have gone so far as to call for the death knell in the anti-ballistic missile program. If it is a success it will show how far the program has developed, but it will also show the U.S. capabilities in anti-satellite military technology.

UPDATE: Newest info is it is a hit.

UPDATE: Direct hit. Video here.

R.I.P. HD DVD: Toshiba reportedly ends the war

Of course, the good guy to whom I’m referring is the technology itself and not its primary backers, e.g., Toshiba and Microsoft. HD DVD was considered the “good guy” in the format war between it and Blu-ray mostly because it was slightly less (shall we say) “intrusive.” That is to say that HD DVD was the lesser of two evils in the format war; a wonderful technology could have emerged, but we must roll with the punches.

This news certainly doesn’t come as surprise to anyone remotely following HD DVD’s format war with rival Blu-ray. HD DVD had suffered a string of defections, with Warner, Netflix, Best Buy, and Wal-Mart all recently pledging their alliance to Blu-ray.

The NHK report says existing HD DVD products will remain in the market for a while, but Toshiba will stop further development of HD DVD. The report also estimates that Toshiba will take a hit to the tune of “hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars” and will close factories in northern Japan.

It’s all rumor at this point, but it seems to be well-founded rumor. Official announcements are set for next week.

Homeless: Can you build a life from $25? — CS Monitor

Adam Shepard left his comfortable life, and became homeless, intentionally to test if anyone really could make it in America. His goal was to have a car, a furnished apartment, and $2,500 in one year.

To make his quest even more challenging, he decided not to use any of his previous contacts or mention his education.

During his first 70 days in Charleston, Shepard lived in a shelter and received food stamps. He also made new friends, finding work as a day laborer, which led to a steady job with a moving company.

Ten months into the experiment, he decided to quit after learning of an illness in his family. But by then he had moved into an apartment, bought a pickup truck, and had saved close to $5,000.

He tells the full story, aside from a bit more in the article, in his book Scratch Beginnings: Me, $25, and the Search for the American Dream.

The End of an Era: Polaroid Drops Self-Developing Film — Real Tech News

As the title of the article says, it is certainly the end of an era.

Polaroid is dropping the product that made it famous. According to CNN, Polaroid is closing its remaining factories that produce self-developing film for its cameras (which have already gone out of production).

I remember an article from a good while back that stated that Polaroid was losing tons of money on the product, so it makes sense that it would end soon. Also, it is no shock that few people are using it anymore. Time and technology marches on, and there are much better, much cheaper methods of photography. Still, all said, when I was a kid it always seemed a technological wonder to watch one of those pictures develop.