Congress Once Funded an Expedition To Determine if the Earth Was Hollow December 31, 2010

Harper's Weekly 1882 Symmes Hole Illustration

What Seems Idiotic Today Was Considered Fact in the Past

On This Date in History:   17th Century astronomer Edmund Halley  is more famous for the comet that bears his name but it is less well-known that he also suggested that the earth had four concentric spheres and that there was a hollow area in the center with small entrances at each pole. Inside the hollow earth, Halley said there was life and there was illumination. He thought that the aurora was caused by gasses being released from the openings at the poles. Well, this guy John Symmes carried on that idea and began a series of lectures designed to gain financial support for an expedition. He said, “I ask 100 brave companions…to start from Siberia…I engage we find a warm and rich land, stocked with thrifty vegetables and animals…northward of latitude 82.” He wanted to sail over the curved rim of a polar hole into a hollow earth. Symmes must have been very convincing because after speeches given in Rossville and Hamilton, Ohio on this date (Dec 30) in 1823, the two towns passed resolutions the following day stating that the earth was hollow.  Later, Hamilton built a monument to their native son hollow earther Symmes, who not only convinced the people of the Ohio towns, but also some Congressmen who tried to get public funding for the expeditions. A hollow earth fellow traveler and newspaperman, Jeremiah N. Reynolds, joined the chorus by stressing the commercial potential of the eccentric expedition. Today, Congress might hide an earmark for the funding but in 1823, it showed fiscal restraint.

Reed's Version of Symmes Hole

However, that restraint didn’t last too long because, 15 years later, the Congress actually appropriated $30,000 for Charles Wilkes to sail to Antarctica. In 1838, Wilkes set sail with 6 wooden ships to check out the South Pole. He first tried to nose in but was rebuffed when amidst strong winds, high seas and pack ice; one of his ships sunk taking the full crew with it. So, he decided on a different route, venturing into the South Pacific and charting Hawaii, Tahiti and Samoa. Sounds like Uncle Sam funded a nice vacation in island paradises to me. However, unlike Fletcher Christian, Wilkes did not get so enamoured by Tahiti and he sailed to Australia and then to the South Pole. He actually ended up making a pretty decent map of the frozen continent and today there is a 1500 mile stretch of coastline in Antarctica named Wilke’s Land.

John C Symmes II

None of that would have happened without the outlandish claims of Symmes and Reynolds, who planted the seed for Congress to fund an expedition to Antarctica to find the hole in the earth. Now, when Admiral Byrd flew over the poles(1926 and 1929), it should have put to rest the rumors of a hollow earth. But, like those who want to chase Chemtrails, hollow earth proponents refused to accept the facts and instead claim that Byrd actually entered “Symmes Hole” because Byrd had referred to Antarctica as the “Land of Everlasting Mystery” and said, “I’d like to see the land beyond the pole. That area beyond the pole is the center of the great unknown.” In 1906, William Reed took a different tact and said there was no north and south pole but instead there were entrances to the center of the earth and in 1913, Marshall Gardiner went so far as to say that there was sun 600 miles in diameter in the center of the earth. Of course, no one has reported any holes but…the claim was that the government was covering up the truth!  So, there you have it…it can’t be any more clear…Admiral Byrd has gone into the hollowed out earth and there is a government conspiracy to prevent anyone from finding out…I told you that it sounded like Chemtrails.  It’s a weird story from the past but perhaps its a good reminder that throughout history today’s facts of science sometimes become tomorrow’s silly stories.  Then again, there are those today who still believe the earth is hollow or that there is no proof one way or another regarding the center of the earth.

16th Amendment is Valid. Pay Your Tax April 15, 2009

1863 Tax Receipt

On This Date in History:  You don’t need me to tell you what today is…it is tax day.  But it wasn’t always the day when Federal Income Tax is due.  In fact, there hasn’t always been an income tax.  Originally, the founders had envisioned a national government funded by tarriffs and fees on commerce.  But, the extreme cost of the Civil War far overburdened the treasury so Congress passed the Revenue Act of 1861 to place a tax on citizens to finance the war. But, Congress did something that it doesn’t do too often, which is to repeal a tax.  The Revenue Act was repealed in 1871, once the finances of the nation were back in order.  Congress found itself a little short of money again and so once again decided to tax the citizens on their income in 1894, but that tax was struck down by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional.  The problem was that the tax was a flat tax on all individuals but was not apportioned accordingly to each state as it related to each state’s population.    Well, when Congress want’s money, its not going to let a little thing like the Constitution get in the way…all you need to do is to amend the document.  In 1909, President William Howard Taft proposed a Constitutional Amendment and the Congress passed a resoluton for such an amendment later that year.  On February 25, 1913 Secretery of State Philander Knox announced that the required 75% of states, 36 at the time, had their legislatures ratify the amendment and it became law.

Read All About Alleged Fraud

Now, over the years there have been those who claim the amendment was a fraud.  That the states never ratified it.  Part of the claim is that there were grammatical and spelling differences between the documents and that what each state voted for was not identical in every way to the one written as the 16th Amendment.  That argument has been shot down numerous times and here is a scholar’s explaining the flaws in the argument.    There was even one ruling that said that an amendment to give Congress the authority to tax was never even necessary but that the 16th Amendment removed the obstacle of apportionment. (think its Penn Mutual case)  Most recently, actor Wesley Snipes tried to not pay his income taxes based on such advice.  He was convicted.  Typically, these arguments of the 16th Amendment being invalid also go along with the idea that the Federal Reserve system is unconstitutional.  Here is a scholar who explains why that is wrong.  Now, I have heard these arguments from those who also make the claim that the contrails we see overhead are really chemtrails.  I have yet to find any credible evidence to support any of these claims. 

"Snipes" Got 3 Years

Accept it…you have to pay your taxes.  The due date was originally March 1.  But, after reform in 1918, the date got pushed to March 15 until the 1950′s when another wave of reform ended the patronage system and instead used career employees.  Since 1954, this date in history has been known as tax day and I suspect that it will be for the foreseeable future since there doesn’t seem to be any big push to change the day and I don’t know of any reason to do so.  However, taxes have been an issue with this nation since before its creation and, in fact, was a big reason for the independence movement in the first place. 

SPC Severe Threat Friday and Saturday

Weather Bottom Line:  Not a great day around here on Tuesday.  Told you the low would be pokey and we’ll probably still have a lot of clouds around on Wednesday too with cool temperatures…perhaps around 50 or so for a high.  There could be some areas of drizzle as well, particularly in the morning.  The storm system out west that was threatening Thunder Over Louisville is appearing more and more to be our friend.  We start to come out of the bucket on Thursday with lots of sunshine and the mercury moving toward 60.  Then we get toward 70 on Friday as the system out west starts to come out and draw up warmer air so we add another 10 degrees.  Saturday, we’re really getting into the southerly flow and we get toward the middle 70′s.  This of course sets us up for t’storms on Sunday but so what…the big festivities will be done with and thats great because there’s not much worse than a chilly and cloudy Thunder Over Louisville.

http://alphainventions.com/

alphainventions

Government Conspiracy: The Earth is Hollow! Snow Friday? December 30, 2008

A little Flu Update:  If you’ve been a regular visitor to this here blog, then you can recall the information that I set forth about the Spanish Flu Pandemic in 1918.  That pandemic killed 50 million around the world and it has been a mystery as to how that strain of flu got so tough.  Well, researchers may have found an answer.  Somehow these guys have managed to find three genes that were specific to the 1918 bug that caused the flu to cause extreme pneumonia.  What seems scary to me is that they have recreated the virus or at least have that virus.  Maybe I’ve seen too many movies but let us hope that someone doesn’t swipe the virus or it doesn’t inadvertantly get released.  Here’s the story of the latest discovery.

Harper's Weekly 1882 Symmes Hole Illustration

On This date in History:  This one is pretty odd.  On This date in 1823, the citizens of Hamilton and Rossville

John C Symmes II

Ohio heard a lecture by John Symmes and the following day the two towns passed resolutions that the earth was hollow!

In the late 17th Century, astronomer Edmund Halley suggested that the earth had four concentric spheres and that there was a hollow area in the center with small entrances at each pole.  Inside the hollow area, Halley said there was life and there was illumination.  He thought that the auroa was caused by gasses being released from the openings at the poles.  Well, this guy John Symmes carried on that idea and began a series of lectures designed to gain financial support for an expedition.  He said, “I ask 100 brave companions…to start from Siberia…I engage we find a warm and rich land, stocked with thrifty vegetables and animals…northward of latitude 82.”  He wanted to sail over curved rim of a polar hole into a hollow earth.  Believe it or not, Symmes not only convinced the people of the Ohio towns, but also  some Congressmen who tried to get public funding for the expeditions.  A hollow earth fellow traveler, Jeremiah Reynolds, joined the chorus by stressing the commercial potential of the eccentric expedition.  Today, Congress might hide an earmark for the funding but in 1823, it showed fiscal restraint.

Reed's Version of Symmes Hole

However, that restraint didn’t last too long because, 15 years later, the Congress actually appropriated $30,000 for Charles Wilkes to sail to Antarctica.  In 1838, Wilkes set sail with 6 wooden ships to check out the South Pole.  He first tried to nose in but was rebuffed when amidst strong winds, high seas and pack ice, one of his ships sunk taking the full crew with it.  So, he decided on a different route, venturing into the South Pacific and charting Hawaii, Tahiti and Samoa.  Sounds like the government funded a nice vacation in island paradises to me.  However, unlike Fletcher Christian, Wilkes did not get so enamoured by Tahiti and he sailed to Australia and then to the South Pole.  He actually ended up making a pretty decent map of the frozen continent and today there is a 1500 mile stretch of coastline in Antarctica named Wilke’s Land.

None of that would have happened without the outlandish claims of Symmes and Reynolds, who planted the seed for Congress to fund an expedition to Antarctica to find the hole in the earth.  Now, when Admiral Byrd flew over the poles(1926 and 1929), it should have put to rest the rumors of a hollow earth.  But, like those who want to chase Chemtrails, hollow earth proponents refused to  accept the facts and instead claim that Byrd actually entered “Symmes Hole” because Byrd had referred to Antarctica as the “Land of Everlasting Mystery” and said, “I’d like to see the land beyond the pole.  That area beyond the pole is the center of the great unknown.”   In 1906, William Reed took a different tact and said there was no north and south pole but instead there were entrances to the center of the earth and in 1913, Marshall Gardiner went so far as to say that there was sun 600 miles in diameter in the center of the earth.  Of course, no one has reported any holes but…the claim was it was a government cover-up!!   So, there you have it…it can’t be any more clear…Admiral Byrd has gone into the hollowed out earth and there is a government conspiracy to prevent anyone from finding out…I told you that it sounded  like Chemtrails. 

GFS Snow Accumulation Friday Evening

GFS Precipitation Friday

Weather Bottom Line:

We have a system that will drop down on Friday.  If you look at the GFS critical thickness,

GFS Critical Thickness Friday

all lines are south of our region.  However, it would appear that moisture is limited with this scenario and the GFS tosses out numerically less than a quarter  inch of snow.  That’s it.  Now, just because the GFS has all of the critical lines south, it does not mean that will necessarily  come to bear.  Instead, it would be possible that what precipitation does occur could very well do so during a time of transition and so some of the critical thickness lines may indeed not be so neatly lined up and instead there could be air at the surface that is slightly above freezing or perhaps even some layers in between the bottom and top of the atmosphere that is above freezing as it is precipitating.  So, this bottom line at this time would be perhaps a little nuisance snow at best with a real possibility that we have a mixed bag of stuff that will not bring joy to anyone.  It’ll be fun to watch and see how it shakes out but I wouldn’t break out the snow shoes just yet.  I’m really getting tired of us being cold but not getting any action.  Quite boring.  Snow White and I spent Christmas in Houston where it was in the mid to upper 70s most of the time and if we can’t have snow, then I’d rather have that than this boring, cold stuff.  But alas…in the words of US Grant..”man proposes, God disposes.”

Is There A “Chemtrail” Conspiracy? December 2, 2008

Forecast is going as expected…Tuesday the sun comes out but it will be tough to get out of the upper 30′s and low 40′s.  Wednesday, we get to the low to mid 50′s but clouds and rain come back for Wednesday evening. Then we are in the low to mid 20′s at night and mid to upper 30′s into the first half of the weekend.  If anyone tells you there is snow in the forecast, remember this past Monday.  There was a lot of talk and not much reality.  The same would be the case….maybe a flake or two on Saturday or even potentially early Thursday morning but nothing worth talking about.  Our average high from Nov. 15 until now has been 43 degrees.  That is what we expect in January.  I’m afraid to open my gas and electric bill.<meta name=”blogcatalog” content=”9BC9289454″ />

Chemtrails

"Chemtrails" Over Iraq from US Military 1991

I recently got an email from a gentleman who urged me to click on a link regarding new evidence about chemtrails.  He had some experience with aviation and so I gave it a shot.  It was a  link associated with a guy from New Mexico to whom everyone who writes or calls me wants me to link to.  Yet, most of these well intentioned people can never really  give me any explanations themselves.  In the most recent case, I was given the often told tale that contrails do not last a long time but chemtrails do.  When I presented the reason why that is a mistaken premise, the gentleman politely told  me that he didn’t agree and that was that.  I have nothing for today so I am giving a replay of two posts on the subject.  This is pretty long..probably too long…but it provides my questions that never get answers and then an explanation about clouds and meteorological references from real live professors whose work is used by mainstream meteorological institutions across the nation.

B-17 WWII Contrails...Kinda Looks Like Iraq 1991

I beg you folks out there to please give me some good answers to the questions I ask.  I’m not saying that the idea is necessarily wrong, but I am saying that I have yet to get reasonable answers.  So, here they are….have fun if you have time.

From what I understand, the idea is that someone is spraying the atmosphere with harmful chemicals. I have yet to have a conspiracist tell me who these people are. They will not say its the government or the military or even a foreign entity. But, its someone. They claim that the evidence is visual, that the contrails we see in the sky are really chemicals being sprayed out. They say that real contrails disappear after 60 seconds and that these long lasting trails, that spread out widely are not normal and not like they used to be. They also claim the criss-crossing pattern is not normal air-traffic and offer more evidence.

B-17 Contrails WWII...Early "Chemtrail" Conspiracy?

I have yet to find any credible, substanative evidence to support any of the claims I’ve pointed out or others. On websites there are statistics cited and evidence presented yet there is nothing to go on but the author’s word. I do know that callers have never been able to answer a few questions, nor have I found the answers on a website. Here are four:

1) If this is the effect of something more than just routine aviation, who is doing this and why? (the answer I often get is “that’s for you to find out.)

2)If they are spraying Louisville, why do they do it at 25k to 35k feet? Upper level winds would take those particles in all liklihood to the Atlantic ocean. I offer that there is a reason why crop dusters fly at 30 feet off the plants and not 30,000 feet. (The counter to this is that the chemtrails are low level…. I took the bait last weekend and I’d estimate 25,000 feet)

3)If the conspirators are in this country, how do they prevent themselves from being affected by the spray of the general population.

4)If the trails are indeed sinister “chemtrails”, then the fact that the clouds remain visible means that the particles are indeed suspended at that height and are not descending.(the response typically is verfication that the person has no fundamental understanding of thermodynamics or even simple items such as condensation nuclei)

Now the pictures above are supposedly evidence. It is suggested that air traffic controllers do not allow aircraft to fly on the same plane at the same altitude. I am not certain of the veracity of that claim. In my mind, there is also no possible way to tell with the naked eye the varing levels of the trails from a singular point directly below. Nevertheless, this photo and others seem to show that the crossing trail is above the others. Typically, if you are skeptical of the claims you are called closed minded or riduculed as being part of the societal ostriches with your head in the sand.

Here’s the bottom line: The internet is extremely limited as a research tool. Teach your kids to go to the library and learn library skills. Just because someone makes a claim on the internet that a photo is one thing or a piece of prose is indeed “historical fact”, doesn’t mean its true. Verify the facts with credible sources! I had claims also made to me that the 16th Amendment was fraudulently passed so the income tax is unlawful, that the IRS is headquartered in Puerto Rico and that the Federal Reserve is a fraud, illegal and unconstitutional. Certain aspects of the claims were valid….just enough to make someone think everything stated was true when in fact, the totality of the evidence suggests otherwise.

Its the old adage….don’t believe everything you read! Especially on the internet….which means you should read my work with a skeptics eye. However, I challenge you to offer a different viewpoint or point out errors..in fact I encourage it. The internet is a great place to exchange ideas but its a lousy place to hang your hat on.

Feel free to do a search on chemtrails and find out what is out there on the world wide web. Many of the sites you will find mention Art Bell. Find out of there is any real academic support for this. See what you think. Here is a link from one of the main proponents….from New Mexico.

http://www.carnicom.com/contrails.htm

Here’s  a link from a guy who says its the military….at least he has a villain.

http://www.nutech2000.com/webtext/govbas/chemtrail/chemusa.htm

(here is a follow up post after readers suggested that “steam” came off jet engines which of course Mr. Watt would have been happy to know…it was obvious we needed a review of basic atmospheric physics and condensation, evaporation and sublimation)

I can tell that we need a little background about condensation and cloud formation if we want to get a handle on this contrail caper. Let’s begin with the definition of a contrail according to the National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Weather:

“a straight, narrow line of ice crystal clouds produced by flying aircraft. Condensation trails(contrails) may occur in several short segments at various angles to each other, depending on flight paths.”

"Chemtrails" off CA coast over Marine Environment; Clouds Lacking Over Dry Continental Environment....what a surprise!

Contrails are really nothing but man-man cirrus clouds. Like cirrus clouds, contrails are found at high levels of the atmosphere, generally 25,000 to 35,000 feet in a nearly saturated environment where air temperatures are very cold…typically colder than 25 degrees below zero Farenheit. When an aircraft, jet or turbo prop, flies through such an environment, the engine exhaust emits not steam but water droplets. Those water droplets freeze into ice crystals. If the environment is very dry, however, evaporation or sublimation occurs and there is no cloud or trail formation. When a trail of clouds is formed, it will last as long as it is in a nearly saturated environment. If it is marginally saturated then the trail will disappear relatively rapidly. If it is nearly saturated, then it will last. This type of phenomena has been recorded and noted since the advent of higher altitude aviation, most prominently in high altitude bombing by the Allies in WWII with such aircraft as the B-17 Flying Fortress or the B-29 Superfortress. In both cases, long lasting contrails allowed the enemy to pinpoint the aviator’s location so contrails were not a bomber pilot’s friend.

A warming environment or one with dry air intrusion will cause the trail to dissipate through sublimation. A lowering of temperatures or one with moisture intrusion increases condensation and therefore more clouds, not less.

Again, the Aududon Society explains: “When the the air at the aircraft level is near saturation, a contrail may last a long time. When they start to become diffuse, contrails can spread to form a major cloud cover…The amount of air traffic over a region also strongly influences the occurrence of contrails. An increased number of contrails, together with portions of other stratiform clouds moving into an area, may indicate a local atmospheric change due to an advancing weather system.”

I thought about this when I was at the Bats’ game last night. I looked up and saw a jet with a contrail going east while another crossed the trail behind it going south. The trails made a T-formation. Above those two trails was another jet with a trail that lasted for maybe 15 seconds behind it. The environment in which it flew was way too dry to produce a lasting cloud while below, the cold atmosphere had more moisture. At about 2000 feet, there was a SW Airlines plane making a final approach to Standiford Field. There was no contrail. Its not cold enough to produce contrails at low levels and the atmosphere was nothing close to saturation necessary to form other cloud types.

Just remember, while sometimes the simplest explanation is the most reliable, more often the truth is not found on the surface but instead requires careful analysis and thought. Calling someone names does not make them wrong nor change the facts.

For more insight, see the following reputiable sources:

Holton, James R. An Introduction to Dynamic Meteorology. 2nd edition (London: Academic
Press Inc, 1979)
Battan, Louis J. Fundamentals of Meteorology. (Englewood, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1979)
McIlveen, Robin. Basic Meteorology: A Physical Outline. (Berkshire, UK: Van Norstrand
Company Ltd., 1986).

A Real Problem May 14, 2007

I brought up the topic of “chemtrails” because it was brought up to me and I have yet to find any substanative evidence to support any claim. Global Warming has been in the front burner for some time yet there are many experts (more than the media has led you to believe) who dispute much of the “consensus” opinions. About 15 years ago, the topic was ozone depletion. A couple of laws were passed and suddenly that debate left the headlines, but has the problem or risk really gone away?

All of the above are fueled by speculation and some of that speculation may have very strong merit. But, in my view, we are whistling past the graveyard regarding an issue that is real and is affecting us right now.

If you walk down along the river near the Belle of Louisville, you will see a sign warning of the pollution of the river following a rainstorm. Apparently, a heavy rain causes an overflow of contaminated water up and down the river. Our news department tells me they have reported on the problem. You can find numerous reports of all sorts pollution into the river from raw sewage to other items as pointed out by the Local Government Environmental Assistance Network:

Solvent cleaners and paints, mercury switches and lamps, lubricants and other wastes from operations and facility maintenance activities.
Disinfection by-products, i.e. trihalomethanes.
Corrosion by-products.
Leaking or broken lead from service lines, goose neck or service connections.
Radon in wells.
Pesticides and herbicides rinse waters and containers.
Industrial, commercial and household chemical discharges.

http://www.lgean.org/html/p2-11.cfm

Here’s the deal. We know of these problems. Most people I know who fish laugh when you ask if they eat any fish taken from the Ohio River. Report after report confirms the pollution and where its coming from. Its not speculation that marine species are disappearing due to pollution in fresh water and oceanic ecosystems. That could affect the entire water cycle. It deserves more immediate attention and action than other more publicized “crises” and certainly more than merely posting a sign.

Some other time I’ll talk about the problem of a lack of water. Its a bigger problem than you think. Hydrologists know it and so do investors who are buying up water rights and investing in private efforts to create water resources.

On This Date In History In 1886, Louisville had its overall warmest Derby Day with an average high of 78 degrees. Note this was in the late 19th century and not the late 20th century. But I think derby goers dodged a bullit. In Ohio a big F4 tornado killed several people and caused extensive damage. 200 years earlier, Gabriel Farenheit was born. He went on and invented the mercury thermometer, but I’m not sure if he got rich from it. I betcha he’s one of those guys who did all of the work and someone else made the money. In 1804, Lewis and Clark left St. Louis on their famous expedition to the west coast. Thomas Jefferson had commissioned them to do so to explore the lands largely made up of the Louisiana Purchase. I guess ole Tom wanted to find out what he paid for. Louisvillians like to say Lewis and Clark began their expedition from here but in general, St. Louis usually gets the nod….just like Louisville was once known as the gateway to the west (as well as the graveyard of the west) until St. Louis took the title of gateway city and now they have an arch. We’re supposed to get a couple of new bridges soon.

_uacct = “UA-1763609-1″;

urchinTracker();

Lets Talk About Clouds May 11, 2007

I can tell that we need a little background about condensation and cloud formation if we want to get a handle on this contrail caper. Let’s begin with the definition of a contrail according to the National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Weather:

“a straight, narrow line of ice crystal clouds produced by flying aircraft. Condensation trails(contrails) may occur in several short segments at various angles to each other, depending on flight paths.”

Contrails are really nothing but man-man cirrus clouds. Like cirrus clouds, contrails are found at high levels of the atmosphere, generally 25,000 to 35,000 feet in a nearly saturated environment where air temperatures are very cold…typically colder than 25 degrees below zero Farenheit. When an aircraft, jet or turbo prop, flies through such an environment, the engine exhaust emits not steam but water droplets. Those water droplets freeze into ice crystals. If the environment is very dry, however, evaporation or sublimation occurs and there is no cloud or trail formation. When a trail of clouds is formed, it will last as long as it is in a nearly saturated environment. If it is marginally saturated then the trail will disappear relatively rapidly. If it is nearly saturated, then it will last. This type of phenomena has been recorded and noted since the advent of higher altitude aviation, most prominently in high altitude bombing by the Allies in WWII with such aircraft as the B-17 Flying Fortress or the B-29 Superfortress. In both cases, long lasting contrails allowed the enemy to pinpoint the aviator’s location so contrails were not a bomber pilot’s friend.

A warming environment or one with dry air intrusion will cause the trail to dissipate through sublimation. A lowering of temperatures or one with moisture intrusion increases condensation and therefore more clouds, not less.

Again, the Aududon Society explains: “When the the air at the aircraft level is near saturation, a contrail may last a long time. When they start to become diffuse, contrails can spread to form a major cloud cover…The amount of air traffic over a region also strongly influences the occurrence of contrails. An increased number of contrails, together with portions of other stratiform clouds moving into an area, may indicate a local atmospheric change due to an advancing weather system.”

I thought about this when I was at the Bats’ game last night. I looked up and saw a jet with a contrail going east while another crossed the trail behind it going south. The trails made a T-formation. Above those two trails was another jet with a trail that lasted for maybe 15 seconds behind it. The environment in which it flew was way too dry to produce a lasting cloud while below, the cold atmosphere had more moisture. At about 2000 feet, there was a SW Airlines plane making a final approach to Standiford Field. There was no contrail. Its not cold enough to produce contrails at low levels and the atmosphere was nothing close to saturation necessary to form other cloud types.

Just remember, while sometimes the simplest explanation is the most reliable, more often the truth is not found on the surface but instead requires careful analysis and thought. Calling someone names does not make them wrong nor change the facts.

For more insight, see the following reputiable sources:

Holton, James R. An Introduction to Dynamic Meteorology. 2nd edition (London: Academic
Press Inc, 1979)
Battan, Louis J. Fundamentals of Meteorology. (Englewood, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1979)
McIlveen, Robin. Basic Meteorology: A Physical Outline. (Berkshire, UK: Van Norstrand
Company Ltd., 1986).

This Date In History In 1864, JEB Stuart went down for the count and pretty much ended Robert E. Lee’s hopes of any recovery. 1976-Marcus Welby MD aired its last episode.,..if you believe the tabloids what followed was a tragic demise for Robert Young. James Brolin later hooked up with Barbara Streisand(not that I read the tabloids).

In 1970 a big ole tornado hit downtown Lubbock, TX. It was at the time the costliest tornado with $135 million in damage and it killed 26 people. I’m pretty sure it was the first one to hit large buildings and resulted in the demolition of a multi-story steel building due to a slight twisting of the superstructure. However, I cannot recall the source…I’m relying on my aging memory.

In 1934, a big ole dust storm swept the nation clouding the skies across the eastern US from Atlanta to Boston. This was in the depths of the dust bowl years and from this we learned better farming techniques so as to avoid a repeat performance. See, there are many many known problems facing us, not theorhetical possibilities. We dont need to invent problems. I think politically we are missing the boat. Water pollution is real and is rampant and yet no one does anything about it. It is not speculation or computer modeling that shows that the oceans and fresh water sources are indeed contaminated. That, in my view, is where our political resources should be going. There is also a problem with a lack of water in many locations where there are more people living than existing resources can support as well as areas where non-indigenous vegetation soaks up limited water resources. This is a far bigger problem for now and the future than most people recognize.

_uacct = “UA-1763609-1″;

urchinTracker();

Contrails or “Chemtrails:? May 9, 2007

The weather has been fabulous the last few days…so nice in fact I had my head in my own clouds and had neglected to post anything. And in fact, I had something to chat about…I shall share some of it with you today.

Over the weekend, I got a call from a gentleman asking me about the contrails outside. He began by telling me of research in New Mexico….before he could finish his sentence I interrupted, “oh, you’re talking about that guy from New Mexico” who makes all these claims about chemtrails. His response was “I didn’t say Chemtrails”. Well, thats exactly what he was talking about. He is not the first person to call me about such things.

From what I understand, the idea is that someone is spraying the atmosphere with harmful chemicals. I have yet to have a conspiracist tell me who these people are. They will not say its the government or the military or even a foreign entity. But, its someone. They claim that the evidence is visual, that the contrails we see in the sky are really chemicals being sprayed out. They say that real contrails disappear after 60 seconds and that these long lasting trails, that spread out widely are not normal and not like they used to be. They also claim the criss-crossing pattern is not normal air-traffic and offer more evidence.

I have yet to find any credible, substanative evidence to support any of the claims I’ve pointed out or others. On websites there are statistics cited and evidence presented yet there is nothing to go on but the author’s word. I do know that callers have never been able to answer a few questions, nor have I found the answers on a website. Here are four:

1) If this is the effect of something more than just routine aviation, who is doing this and why? (the answer I often get is “that’s for you to find out.)

2)If they are spraying Louisville, why do they do it at 25k to 35k feet? Upper level winds would take those particles in all liklihood to the Atlantic ocean. I offer that there is a reason why crop dusters fly at 30 feet off the plants and not 30,000 feet. (The counter to this is that the chemtrails are low level…. I took the bait last weekend and I’d estimate 25,000 feet)

3)If the conspirators are in this country, how do they prevent themselves from being affected by the spray of the general population.

4)If the trails are indeed sinister “chemtrails”, then the fact that the clouds remain visible means that the particles are indeed suspended at that height and are not descending.(the response typically is verfication that the person has no fundamental understanding of thermodynamics or even simple items such as condensation nuclei)

Now the pictures above are supposedly evidence. It is suggested that air traffic controllers do not allow aircraft to fly on the same plane at the same altitude. I am not certain of the veracity of that claim. In my mind, there is also no possible way to tell with the naked eye the varing levels of the trails from a singular point directly below. Nevertheless, this photo and others seem to show that the crossing trail is above the others. Typically, if you are skeptical of the claims you are called closed minded or riduculed as being part of the societal ostriches with your head in the sand.

Here’s the bottom line: The internet is extremely limited as a research tool. Teach your kids to go to the library and learn library skills. Just because someone makes a claim on the internet that a photo is one thing or a piece of prose is indeed “historical fact”, doesn’t mean its true. Verify the facts with credible sources! I had claims also made to me that the 16th Amendment was fraudulently passed so the income tax is unlawful, that the IRS is headquartered in Puerto Rico and that the Federal Reserve is a fraud, illegal and unconstitutional. Certain aspects of the claims were valid….just enough to make someone think everything stated was true when in fact, the totality of the evidence suggests otherwise.

Its the old adage….don’t believe everything you read! Especially on the internet….which means you should read my work with a skeptics eye. However, I challenge you to offer a different viewpoint or point out errors..in fact I encourage it. The internet is a great place to exchange ideas but its a lousy place to hang your hat on.

Feel free to do a search on chemtrails and find out what is out there on the world wide web. Many of the sites you will find mention Art Bell. Find out of there is any real academic support for this. See what you think. Here is a link from one of the main proponents….from New Mexico.

http://www.carnicom.com/contrails.htm

_uacct = “UA-1763609-1″;

urchinTracker();