As of today, I am officially 2/3 through law school. I completed my last exam today, and I start to work at my internship tomorrow.

Here you go, Justin.

105 words

Speed test

Nathan was born on March 3 and weighed 8 lbs, 5 oz. Here he is with his dad and big brother, Ethan. Mom is doing well and is expected to come home tomorrow.

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Anecdotal evidence of temperature drops all over the globe have now been replaced by hard science.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