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From: John Rooke - Thinking Out Loud

in Sports

I did a little research this morning and found a few interesting numbers. Lucas Oil Stadium in Indy has a regular capacity of 62,421 but had 68,658 in-house for SB 46; Jacksonville's Everbank Field is 67,246 (76,867 for bowl games); U of Phoenix is 63,400 for Cardinals, 78,600 for bowls ... and the new Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara will seat 68,500, no word yet on what the SB 50 capacity will be. And on a barely-hidden capacity certificate inside the media entrance to Gillette, there's a sign that says the maximum capacity is about 71,000 instead of the 68,756 they report. Includes standing room, I'm told. So if you fill in the four gaps between the club seats and the peons with temporary seats, that's probably another 3,000-4,000. One way or another, I don't think stadium capacity makes a lot of difference any more or it would always be in the LA Coliseum or the Rose Bowl. And yes, I think the Krafts would do whatever it takes, which is why I'm wishing for the Blizzard of '14 in New Jersey this February.

From: Travis Rowley: Sheldon Whitehouse: A Radical Embarrassment

in Politics

Sheldon Whitehouse is indeed an embarrassment to the State of Rhode Island, and himself. Like Al Gore, Sheldon is a true believer in the global warming crisis religion, one bred by an inability to grasp complex scientific issues and a penchant for currying favor with the forces of environmental extremism.

Contrary to Sheldon's suppositions, science does not operate on the basis of consensus, but provable fact and hard scientific DATA that is replicable. No one can prove that C02 is the cause of whatever warming has occurred during the 20th, or any, century, apart from the other forces that are chiefly determinative of climate--solar output, cosmic rays (and their effect on cloud cover), the earth's elliptical orbit, its axial tilt, its precession wobble, the El Ninos, etc. The earth's climate cycle has been in place for eons and is not being altered to any significant degree by anthropogenic CO2. The fact that atmospheric CO2 is near 400 ppm doesn’t prove anything relative to climate, except that atmospheric CO2 is near 400 ppm. In fact, 99% of the people who believe in the "global warming crisis" cannot even tell you what the current globally-averaged temperature is, nor how much it may have risen over the past century (or any other time frame for that matter). Nor do they know that the current globally averaged temperature is 1-2 degrees C below what it was during the Medieval Warm Period, when human activity could scarcely have been a factor.

The earth has warmed 0.74 degrees C since 1900, a figure provided by the U.N.'s IPCC. Half of that increase took place before 1945, so carbon dioxide could not possibly be implicated. It is only in the period from 1978-1997 that CO2 and globally averaged temperatures rose at the same time, 0.35 degrees C. Since 1997, they have stopped rising. But coincidence does not prove causation. Yet, radical environmentalists are convinced that CO2 is the primary driver. Why? Because of all the factors driving climate, CO2 is one of the only factors that government can use as a justification for growing its power at freedom's expense. After all, it can hardly send Sheldon to the sun with a fire extinguisher.

Britain's Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research acknowledged the fact that temperatures rose just 0.07 degrees C from 1999-2008, but when adjusted for El Nino and El Nina, the trend was reduced to 0.0 degrees C. That said, the whole issue is:what hand man does man play on climate? The whole global warming alarmist case must be predicated on the highly questionable assumption that the small uptick in globally averaged temperatures, coming as they do in the period following the end of the Little Age (that ended about 1850), is a result NOT of solar activity and the other natural forces listed above, but primarily anthropogenic CO2. Professor Richard Lindzen of MIT characterized it best when he observed that

“Future generations will wonder in bemused amazement that the early 21st century’s developed world went into hysterical panic over a globally averaged temperature increase of a few tenths of a degree, and, on the basis of gross exaggerations of highly uncertain computer projections combined into implausible chains of inference, proceeded to contemplate a roll-back of the industrial age.”

Yet, buffoons like Sheldon Whitehouse, anxious to curry favor with the environmentalist crowd do exactly that. But climate should not be driven by political considerations (propelled as they were initially by Al Gore’s presidential ambitions and the environmental movement’s desire for the mother of all fundraising causes), or evaluated based on short-term political goals. Indeed, it is the kind of issue that can only be understand on a geologic time scale since climate follows a long-term cycle based on naturally recurring factors. These factors include the 100,000 year elliptical cycle, the 41,000 year axial tilt cycle, the 23,000 year precession or “wobble” cycle, and, most importantly, the 1,500 year solar cycle. Historically, temperatures fluctuations have happened, often abruptly, regardless of CO2 levels. But, no, Sheldon blames it all on CO2, a trace gas, most of which is naturally occurring and consists of water vapor. Not only is carbon dioxide’s total greenhouse effect puny, mankind’s contribution to it is minuscule. The overwhelming majority (97%) of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere comes from nature, not from man. And, contrary to Gore’s ludicrous claims, CO2 is a long time lagging indicator of temperature rise, not its cause.

There is simply no justification for draconian measures to limit CO2 production, imperil U.S. and world economic prosperity, increase family energy costs (ranging from $1,700 (U.S. Treasury Dept.) to $4,000 (Heritage Foundation)) by 2032, and damage the health of world’s poor (who will be the primary victims of such measures), over such minor, and naturally occurring, fluctuations in globally averaged climate. Indeed, CO2 rise is a GOOD thing, because it promotes increased crop yield, as any agronomist can tell you. This was the conclusion of the Copenhagen Consensus that rated climate change mitigation a low priority among the world’s problems. Billions, or trillions, of our limited resources would be far better spent drilling wells in poor regions of the world, or addressing malaria (whose rise may be directly blamed on radical environmentalists who drove the unscientific ban of DDT after 1970).

Sheldon Whitehouse is a scientific illiterate who cannot grasp these complex issues because he is driven primarily by politics and worships at the altar of the global warming crisis religion. I can understand him wanting to please his environmentalist wife, but, please, keep it at home. For him to lecture us and have attributed the hurricanes in Oklahoma to the failure of Republicans to address global warming is not only absurd (since no serious scientist blames hurricanes on warming), but reflects a deeply troubled mind that has no business representing anybody.

From: John Rooke - Thinking Out Loud

in Sports

Thanks Mark - I will wager, however, that they would have to increase the stadium capacity to greater than 72K to pull it off. There's plenty of room to add seats - it's actually easy to see. But the original thought was also to make it a tough ticket. And it has been. Would the Kraft's mess with the infrastructure for a one-shot chance at the big game? That's the biggest question...

From: Travis Rowley: Sheldon Whitehouse: A Radical Embarrassment

in Politics

The far right's aversion to science has become legendary, they appear proud to be dumb.""Smoking don't cause cancer, asbestos can't harm you, evolution is a lie and climate change is a hoax,"

A Gallup poll found "58 percent of Republicans believe God created humans in the present form just within the last 10,000 years -- despite a wealth of anthropological evidence to the contrary the poll results are at www.gallup.com


LOL

From: John Rooke - Thinking Out Loud

in Sports

John, just an FYI: When Gillette Stadium was built, they deliberately left areas where temporary seating could be placed if needed -- the four open areas around the club seats, the lighthouse end zone ramp and the area in front of the concession stands in the enclosed end. Thus, in-house seating could be increased to about 72,000, which is more than Jacksonville, Indianapolis and Houston.

From: Travis Rowley: Sheldon Whitehouse: A Radical Embarrassment

in Politics

Hoax.

Good article, Travis.

From: poll: Who Will Win Division I Boys Lacrosse Championship?

in High School Sports

I felt bad, so I voted once for each team. I made the first 4 votes. Great poll! You can vote as many times as you want!! Low tech, low life news outlet.

From: Gist by the Numbers: Achievement Gap Failing to Improve

in News

thoughtful one:
Where do you get the 1% improvement for Gist? use the difference between 2008 and 2012, not the difference between 2011 and 2012. You'll see:
White: Math Proficient went from 61 to 67!
White: Reading Proficiency went from 76 to 82!

Just because you don't like what she is doing, don't use the numbers to criticize her. You just make yourself look less credible.

From: Gist by the Numbers: Achievement Gap Failing to Improve

in News

Does anyone know any major urban area that is closing the achievement gap? Significantly.

From: NEW: Taveras Issues Letter Opposing RI NECAP Requirements

in News

Pearl: who do you think instigated the "protest"? It wasn't the students. None of the adults want the testing, for various personal agendas. Can you imagine high performing educational districts voting for a candidate from a City where 75% of high school seniors can't graduate?

From: Fox’s Rival Calls for New Economic Model

in News

Incredible ... The buffoons they call Legislators keep arguing about what model to set up to manage a process they little business being involved in ...

Try this ... Lower taxes ... Make Rhody a Right to Work State .... Let Gist do her job ...

Give it a few years of this, and you have a "Chance" at economic development ...

Anything else is mental masturbation

From: slides: Report: Gist Misses Most Achievement Gap Target Numbers

in News

If the kids don’t attain proficiency, put them in prison or beat them until they do. That will teach them.

From: Gist by the Numbers: Achievement Gap Failing to Improve

in News

Ask any teacher who has been in the classroom for more than 15 years about the exponential increase in children of all races with neurological based diagnoses like Autism requiring special education. Our teachers rise to this challenge every day. The system they work in, however, does everything it can to make their jobs to accommodate and teach these diverse learners nearly impossible.