If Earth is suffering from Global Warming, Why Is it Super Cold outside?

Why So Cold? Climate Change May Be Part of the Answer

"I think everyone would agree that potentially the warming Arctic could have impacts on the lower latitudes," said Rick Thoman, climate services manager with the National Weather Service in Fairbanks, Alaska. "But the exact connection on the climate scale is an area of active research."

From article, (scientists have been puzzled by data that at first seems counterintuitive: Despite an undeniable overall year-round warming trend, winters in North America and Europe have trended cooler over the past quarter-century.
 “We’re trying to understand these dynamic processes that lead to cold winters,” Ms. Kretschmer said.
She is the lead author of a study published last fall that looked at four decades of climate data and concluded that the jet stream — usually referred to as the polar vortex this time of year — is weakening more frequently and staying weaker for longer periods of time. That allows cold air to escape the Arctic and move to lower latitudes. But the study focused on Europe and Russia.
“The changes in very persistent weak states actually contributed to cold outbreaks in Eurasia,” Ms. Kretschmer said. “The bigger question is how this is related to climate change.”
Timo Vihma, head of the polar meteorology and climatology group at the Finnish Meteorological Institute, explained that warmer air in the Arctic reduces the temperature difference between it and lower latitudes and weakens the polar vortex.
“When we have a weak temperature gradient between the Arctic and mid-latitudes, the result is weaker winds,” he said.
 Ordinarily the jet stream is straight, blowing from west to east. When it becomes weaker, Dr. Vihma said, it can become wavy, “more like a big snake around the Northern Hemisphere.”
The weaker winds are more susceptible to disturbances, such as a zone of high pressure that can force colder air southward. These “blocking” high-pressure zones are often what creates a severe cold spell that lingers for several days or longer.)

Does Leasing an electric car makes sense or buying it? It all depends on how the car will be used and how the car user feels about the technology.

Why Drivers Overwhelmingly Choose To Lease Hybrid And Electric Cars Instead Of Buying

Good morning! Welcome to The Morning Shift, your roundup of the auto news you crave, all in one place every weekday morning. Here are the important stories you need to know as electric vehicles slowly take over the news cycle.

 From article, (Most U.S. car owners just aren’t buying hybrid and electric cars, and they have good reasons for it. It goes along with the general leasing trend in the U.S. right now, as a lot of owners think it doesn’t make sense to pay off a financed car anymore: If it takes eight years to pay the car off, the technology in it will be older than that keyboard-having Blackberry you still keep in the nightstand.

 

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Bloomberg’s research shows that drivers in the U.S. lease almost 80 percent of EVs and 55 percent of plug-in hybrids, but it’s still a small group we’re looking at—about 1 percent of the global market is electric.)

Me, "This actually makes sense. For people who do not worry about how many miles they are allowed to put on their car a year, leasing works great for electric cars. Since, the electric car technology is still improving, people want to leverage their money, until the technology improves. With leasing you're basically renting a car for a number of years and then returning it. With buying a car, you are making the assumption that you can drive the car as much as you want, are not worried about damaging it and the headache, of eventually reselling it. 

Once, you have mass adoption of Electric cars and people feel comfortable with the technology, then buying electric cars makes sense. 

What is great about leasing for a car company is that at some point the leased car is returned, spruced up, new technology added and a new battery and is either sold as a used car or re-leased. The car company wins and so does the car renter."

Methane on Mars could mean life. It could also be non-biological. The Hunt is on to figure out which.

On Mars, atmospheric methane-a sign of life on Earth-changes mysteriously with the seasons

From the pasture to the swamp, methane emissions on Earth are the effluvia of life. So what are whiffs of the gas doing on barren Mars? Trace detections of the stuff, alongside glimpses of larger spikes, have fueled debates about biological and nonbiological sources of the gas.

From article, (From the pasture to the swamp, methane emissions on Earth are the effluvia of life. So what are whiffs of the gas doing on barren Mars? Trace detections of the stuff, alongside glimpses of larger spikes, have fueled debates about biological and nonbiological sources of the gas. Last month, at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) in New Orleans, Louisiana, NASA scientists announced a new twist in the tale: a seasonal cycle in the abundance of martian methane, which regularly rises to a peak in late northern summer.

Where that whiff comes from is the heart of the mystery. Microbes (including those that live in the guts of cows and sheep) are responsible for most of Earth's methane, and Mars's could conceivably come from microbes as well—either contemporary microbes or ancient ones, if the methane they produced was trapped underground. But methane can also be made in ways that have nothing to do with biology. Hydrothermal reactions with olivine-rich rocks underground can generate it, as can reactions driven by ultraviolet (UV) light striking the carbon-containing meteoroids and dust that constantly rain down on the planet from space.

Now, add to the methane puzzle the seasonal variation Curiosity has detected, with levels cycling between about 0.3 ppb and 0.7 ppb over more than two martian years. Some seasonality is expected in an atmosphere that is mostly carbon dioxide (CO2), says François Forget, who models the climate of Mars at the Laboratory of Dynamical Meteorology in Paris. In the southern winter, some of that CO2 freezes out onto the large southern polar cap, making the overall atmosphere thinner. That boosts the concentration of any residual methane, which doesn't freeze, and by the end of northern summer this methane-enriched air makes its way north to Curiosity's location, Forget says. Seasonal variations in dust storms and levels of UV light could also affect the abundance of methane, if interplanetary dust is its primary source.

 But, Webster said at the meeting, the seasonal signal is some three times larger than those mechanisms could explain. Maybe the methane—whatever its source—is absorbed and released from pores in surface rocks at rates that depend on temperature, he said. Another explanation, "one that no one talks about but is in the back of everyone's mind," is biological activity, says Mike Mumma, a planetary scientist at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "You'd expect life to be seasonal."

In April, the European Space Agency's ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) will settle into its final orbit and begin science observations, mapping concentrations of methane across the planet. Atmospheric dust will probably prevent the orbiter from reaching its originally advertised sensitivity of several tens of parts per trillion, says Geronimo Villanueva, a science team member at Goddard. But he expects the TGO to approach Curiosity's sensitivity—and its ability to hunt for methane sources in space and time will be unrivaled. The "TGO will allow us to search for this molecule with new eyes," he says.)

No Need to Worry, Elon Musk Implys. Model 3 Still A Go

Tesla again delays Model 3 production target but says it's making 'major progress'

Production hell continues at Tesla. The new Model 3, crucial to the company's success, won't hit full-scale production until the end of June, Tesla said Wednesday - nearly a year after the company began manufacturing the car in small numbers. Throughout last year, Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk had trumpeted a production level of 5,000 a week by December 2017.

From article, (Musk has a history of missed deadlines but often pulls through at the end. The Model S and Model X both suffered delays but were eventually brought to market to rave reviews. The Model 3, which the company plans to make in the hundreds of thousands and sell for $35,000 to $60,000, has raised the stakes.

It’s possible Tesla could pull everything together before cash runs out. Certainly the stock market thinks so. Shares have been under pressure lately but still give the company a market value of about $53 billion, analysts say. But a return to the financial markets for more billions in investment capital will be necessary. How long stock and bond investors will continue to pump sufficient funds into the company is an open question.

“Musk has a long pattern of missing production and financial targets set not just years ahead but a few months ahead. When someone is wrong that often one must question either his honesty or his competence; personally, I question both,” said Mark Spiegel of Stanphyl Capital, who is betting against Tesla by short-selling its stock.

 Tesla has yet to detail the production problems at its manufacturing plants. The Wall Street Journal reported last year that the cars were being built partly by hand as the company struggled with its automated body-panel assembly line.

Without providing details, Musk acknowledged battery-pack assembly problems at the Gigafactory in a conference call with analysts in November. Musk is attempting to build better, cheaper batteries through advanced automation. But early versions of the Model 3 suffered battery quality problems, and it’s not clear whether those have been sufficiently resolved.

Tesla said Wednesday it’s making “major progress” addressing problems “with our production rate increasing significantly towards the end of the quarter.” During the last week of December, the company said, it made 793 Model 3s.

The company said it will “continue to focus on quality and efficiency rather than simply pushing the the highest possible production in the shortest period of time.”)

MTA: Most Taken Authority

A New York Times report found that some workers hired to build NYC subways were paid $111 per hour

A New York Times report found that NYC transit projects cost far more than in comparable cities throughout the world. The costs result from generous compensation for workers and high costs from contractors. The report found that unions and contractors donated millions to political campaigns, including those involving New York Gov.

 From article, (The New York City subway system has come under fire for being unreliable, with delays increasing dramatically in the past five years.

Now after detailing how maintenance funding for the subways had long been cut or diverted for other uses, The New York Times has revealed in a recent report that transportation construction projects in New York are also often significantly more expensive than in other major cities.

A project connecting the Long Island Rail Road commuter train to Grand Central Terminal, for example, is projected to cost $3.5 billion for every new mile of track, which The Times said was seven times the worldwide average elsewhere.

The Times found that one union ensured most of its workers were paid $111 an hour in salary and benefits. And in some cases, construction projects in New York were staffed by up to four times as many workers as for similar projects in Asia, Australia, and Europe.

According to the report, New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which operates the city's subways and buses and some of its commuter trains, said the city had unique conditions requiring inflated costs, but The Times found that those claims may have been exaggerated after interviewing more than 50 contractors and analyzing MTA projects and pricing data.

According to The Times, labor unions and contractors were able to negotiate labor prices without input from any New York City agencies and frequently gave campaign donations to political campaigns — including those involving Gov. Andrew Cuomo — and often hired MTA employees. And since contractors who could perform underground construction projects didn't have much competition, they could reportedly add almost 50% to their projected costs when bidding for projects, compared with an average of 10% in other countries, according to The Times.)

Come Work In A Desert.

Elon Musk is trying to recruit people to work at Tesla's giant battery factory in the middle of the Nevada desert

Elon Musk went on Twitter to promote job openings for Tesla's Gigafactory in Sparks, Nevada. The factory is used to make battery cells and drivetrains for the company's electric cars. While Tesla has struggled to produce its first mass-market electric car, the Model 3, so far, Musk hopes to accelerate production in 2018.

From article, (Elon Musk went on Twitter to promote job openings for Tesla's Gigafactory, which the company is using to make battery cells and drivetrains for its electric cars. The factory is located in Sparks, Nevada.

 The Gigafactory will contain over five million square feet once it's finished, and Musk claims it will be able to make more battery cells than any other lithium-ion battery factory in the world. Being able to make battery cells on a large scale is an essential part of Musk's plan to make both the batteries and the electric cars they're used in more affordable. While Tesla has struggled to produce its first mass-market electric car, the Model 3, so far, Musk has said the company plans to accelerate production in 2018.)

So, is Tesla slowly moving out of Production Hell and into Production Heaven?

Tesla Model 3 VINs point to over 2,000 units produced in 2017

By the end of the day tomorrow, Tesla should release its delivery and production results for the fourth quarter and the full year 2017. As we previously reported, we expect record deliveries for the quarter, but Model 3 production remains a wild card and it will be the most important metric for shareholders and industry analysts.

From article, (By the end of the day tomorrow, Tesla should release its delivery and production results for the fourth quarter and the full year 2017.

As we previously reported, we expect record deliveries for the quarter, but Model 3 production remains a wild card and it will be the most important metric for shareholders and industry analysts.

Now new VIN information gives us insight into Model 3 production.

 As we discussed in our last podcast, Tesla registered over 3,500 new Model 3 VINs with NHTSA last month.

It was its biggest jump to date and a good indicator that Tesla expects to increase Model 3 production after 2 difficult quarters plagued by manufacturing and supply chain issues.

But now Tesla requested to change some of those VINs from model year 2017 to model year 2018 – leaving up to VIN number 3,027 in model year 2017.)

Me, "So, is Tesla slowly moving out of Production Hell and into Production Heaven?"

Want less of a chance of getting cardiovascular diseases? (Heart attacks, Strokes) Take your vitamin D supplements.

High Vitamin D dose may rapidly cut arterial stiffness

High-doses of Vitamin D can potentially reduce arterial stiffness - a major risk factor for cardiovascular-related disease and death - in young vitamin-deficient obese adults, researchers say. Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death globally, with an estimated 17.7 million deaths in 2015, and representing 31 per cent of all global deaths.

From article, (High-doses of Vitamin D can potentially reduce arterial stiffness — a major risk factor for cardiovascular-related disease and death — in young vitamin-deficient obese adults, researchers say.

Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death globally, with an estimated 17.7 million deaths in 2015, and representing 31 per cent of all global deaths.

Rigid artery walls and Vitamin D deficiency might be the potential contributors, said Yanbin Dong, geneticist and cardiologist at the Augusta University, US.

The findings showed that the dose of 4,000 international units (IUs)– more than six times the daily 600 IUs currently recommended for most adults and children — now considered the highest, reduced arterial stiffness the most and the fastest, 10.4 per cent in four months.)

Energy Storage gets a Huge Boost from NYS Governor Cuomo.

New York sets bigger energy storage target than California

"A comprehensive agenda to combat climate change" unveiled on Tuesday by New York governor Andrew Cuomo, includes the setting of a state-wide energy storage deployment target of 1,500MW by 2025.

From article, (“A comprehensive agenda to combat climate change” unveiled on Tuesday by New York governor Andrew Cuomo, includes the setting of a state-wide energy storage deployment target of 1,500MW by 2025.

In addition to the introduction of the target, Cuomo unveiled plans to reduce emissions from natural gas peaker plants, solicit proposals for “at least 800MW” of offshore wind energy projects over two years, establish energy efficiency targets, reconvene a scientific advisory panel on climate change with authorities from other states and create a community solar PV programme aimed at 10,000 low-income households in the state.

The setting of a target was strongly supported by the industry when Cuomo first approved the idea in early December 2017 although yesterday’s announcement was the first time a number had been put on it. The state is seeking the deployment of 1,500MW by 2025 and to employ 30,000 workers in energy storage within New York.)

Tesla Model 3 crosses the U.S. on only a $100.00 dollars. If you like Heat? Your Cost May Vary.

Tesla Model 3 driven from LA to New York in 50 hours

The Tesla Model 3 may just now be leaving showrooms in significant numbers, but can claim a record figure: it was part of the quickest trip across the United States ever in an electric vehicle.

From article, (The Tesla Model 3 may just now be leaving showrooms in significant numbers, but can claim a record figure: it was part of the quickest trip across the United States ever in an electric vehicle.

Alex Roy, editor-at-large for The Drive who’s already driven Teslas on the same run in record-breaking time, completed this trip in the Model 3 in 50 hours, 16 minutes and 32 seconds. Roy left with the car’s owner, Daniel Zorrilla, from Redondo Beach, California just outside Los Angeles on December 28 and drove to a Manhattan parking garage not far from the Empire State Building.

Not only did the time best what Roy and a team did in 2016 when they did the run using a Model S and Autopilot by about 5 hours, but it also beat a record set just last summer by friends Jordan Hart and Bradly D'Souza in a Model S 85D by more than an hour.

Roy tweeted throughout the trip, often about the bitterly cold weather throughout much of the trip. Naturally, keeping the heater on would have a great effect on the range of the Model 3, and therefore their trip time. Still, it was also a test of how well the Model 3 would perform on a long trip, how it holds up in freezing temperatures, and how well Tesla’s Supercharger network holds up throughout the country (Roy and Zorrilla spent roughly $100 charging on the trip, for the record).)

Fusion Power is Dead Just Like Fission Power. They cost too much and are too complicated to build cheaply. The best type of electric generating power will be decided by its cheapness.

Media Advisory: Withdrawal from ITER Could Isolate U.S. Scientists from International Effort on Fusion Energy, New Report Says

A decision by the U.S. to withdraw from the ITER project - a large international burning plasma experiment - could isolate scientists from the international effort and require a new domestic approach to study fusion, says a new report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

 From article, (A decision by the U.S. to withdraw from the ITER project – a large international burning plasma experiment – could isolate scientists from the international effort and require a new domestic approach to study fusion, says a new report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. This report is the first in a two-phase study examining the state and potential of magnetic fusion research in the U.S. and providing guidance on a long-term strategy for the field.

A burning plasma – an ionized gas like the Sun and stars heated by fusion reactions – is a key requirement to make fusion energy. A magnetic fusion reactor can be thought of as a miniature sun confined inside a vessel.  As an energy source, it has environmental advantages and its fuel is abundant, extracted from sea water. This area of interdisciplinary research results in technological and scientific achievements touching many aspects of everyday life and leads to new insights in related fields such as optics, fluid mechanics, and astrophysics.

So far, the U.S. fusion energy science program under the U.S. Department of Energy has made leading advances in burning plasma science. For example, theoretical and computational models have substantially improved control of plasma stability, predicting plasma confinement, and enhancing fusion energy performance, and new techniques have been developed to avoid and mitigate transient events, which can erode plasma-facing materials in the experiment chamber.  The overall understanding of burning plasma science has progressed significantly as well.  If the U.S. continues to participate in ITER, scientists within the country are also expected to make leading contributions to the study of fusion energy at the power plant scale, the report says. 

Currently, the other parties involved in the ITER project – China, the European Union, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea and Russia – have developed national strategic plans for fusion energy demonstration, but the U.S. does not have such a plan, the report says.  Without a long-term vision, the U.S. risks being overtaken as other partners advance the science and technology required to deliver fusion energy, said the committee that conducted the study and wrote the report.  By adopting a national plan, the U.S. has the potential to support strategic funding decisions and priorities within the national program and foster innovation toward commercially-viable fusion reactor designs.)

Me, "Its all about economics. The U.S. can't even build commercial Fission nuclear reactors that have been around since the 1950's, without cost overruns ending up in the billions of dollars. Now, we are going to try Nuclear Fusion Power with the ITER? This is another worthless boondoggle. Let other countries invest in it. When it is proven to work, then we will decide if we want to get involved. 

It makes sense to allow power generating sources to compete. Wind, Solar, Hydro, have all proven that they can be made to work very cheaply producing power. It turns out that the Sun likes to blow wind, the sun likes to provide solar power, the sun liked to warm the Earth to provide eventual rain. While dams can be created to store water, what has always been missing is a cheap way of storing Wind and Solar power.
 Now with huge rechargeable battery systems, Pumped Storage Hydro, chemical conversions, there is a way of providing cheap power that needs very few people to operate it. Wind, Solar and Hydro just need maintenance and they will keep producing power year after year. Why invest billions of dollars in ITER, on a technology that is too expensive to create, when every year billions of dollars can reshape our energy grid and fund many renewable energy projects?

Our space program is the only place I could see the U.S. funding money for Nuclear Fission reactors. There are places on the Moon and in the solar system that don't have or get enough Sun light to produce electricity,  so you need another power source. Nuclear fission makes sense in this case, however, there is always the fear of a rocket blowing up at launch and reactor fuel dispersed into the surrounding launch area.
The only way for Nuclear Fission reactors to work on the Moon, and beyond, is to construct them there from parts (Probably created in huge 3-D printers) and mine nuclear material already out in space. Recently, a news report stated there were high levels of Thorium on the Dark side of the Moon. So, a thorium reactor could be built on the Moon.
NASA is always providing technology that can be built in or for space and then the technology is handed off to the private sector. Perhaps 3-D printing will get its start in space and makes its way into the private sector reducing costs of Nuclear plants in the future. Maybe. Maybe, then commercial Nuclear fission or fusion reactors, on Earth, make sense to build again."    

Batman to Solo?

'Star Wars' Super-Fan Christian Bale Wants to go to 'A Galaxy Far Far Away...'

Christian Bale has confirmed that he was previously in talks for a role in "Solo: A Star Wars Story," and despite not coming to terms he hopes to be in a future "Star Wars" film. Bale was rumored to be in talks for the Solo role that ultimately went to Woody Harrelson.

From article, (Christian Bale has confirmed that he was previously in talks for a role in "Solo: A Star Wars Story," and despite not coming to terms he hopes to be in a future "Star Wars" film. Bale was rumored to be in talks for the Solo role that ultimately went to Woody Harrelson.

"Yes, [it was] very tempting," Bale said on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. "I not only love the films going back to my childhood but also have a very long relationship with Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall because they did "Empire of the Sun" from many years back. There was discussion, [and] I hope there will be future discussions."

 In addition to the Solo potential casting, Bale was reportedly on George Lucas' shortlist to play Anakin Skywalker before the role ultimately went to Hayden Christiansen.)

New Photos Of Falcon Heavy.

SpaceX provides clear photos of the Falcon Heavy on the Launchpad | NextBigFuture.com

SpaceX provides clear photos of the Falcon Heavy on the Launchpad