New features and data
Well about this time every year I try to make a few updates to the site to keep the view fresh. I've had the same background since the blog's inception and I keep toying with the idea of a change there but I just really like the way this looks.
Last year I added the Graphical Tropical Weather Outlook for the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific from NOAA and the tropical storm risk tracker. All three of these maps are clickable and will take you to the home site for additional data and information.
In the side bar we've had details of current activity from the National Hurricane Center for both coasts. The links in these sidebar widgets are clickable and take you to the NHC website. Lately I've noticed that when an active system develops, the widget automatically displays the graphics rather than just the links. Of course this messes up the delivery of the information. I will be watching this throughout the season and will see what I can do to get this straightened out.
Two new widgets I've added in the sidebar are located below the Dumb Ox Blogroll Updates.
The first is just for fun - Al Gore's Doomsday Countdown. The Vice President stated that we only have ten years to act before we face total destruction of the planet. This is just plain BS but I'm not above having some fun with it. Based on current observations and data, in the 6+ years remaining until we burn up due to global warming, we are likely to be in a little ice age. If temperatures continue to drop we will be freezing our backsides off while we try to survive all the draconian climate legislation such as cap and trade (tax and scam).
The other new widget is news in science and nature from Earthweek - A Diary of the Planet.
I've struggled with deciding whether or not to add this widget for quite a while now. After two or three false attempts, I've finally decided to go with it. The negatives are few - mainly just that they promote AGW alarmism. This can be seen in the lead item this week "Displaced by Climate" discussing how many people will lose their homes due to rising sea levels of which there is no evidence and is only predicted by obtuse computer models.
On the positive side, this Earthweek site does a good job of documenting observable environmental activity across the planet. Everything from hurricanes and volcano eruptions to the high and low temperature.
I do want to emphasize that while we have major differences with wacko environmentalist alarmists, environmental stewardship is something I take very seriously. The atmosphere and oceans have been cleaned up significantly sincle the 1970's as I have pointed out several times previously. Real pollution is decreasing and while there is still work to do - such as smog in Houston and Los Angeles, we have made great strides. Focusing a strong effort to regulate CO2, which is not a pollutant, will only serve to take resources away from more important activities such as abatement of real pollutants and adaptating to the naturally changing climate.
Finally, I ask that you scroll down to the bottom of the blog. Last year I added a graph of the progress of named storms throughout the season. I've now expanded this to include graphical representation of hurricanes (as well as named storms) for 2009 plus live radar for the Gulf of Mexico, Western Atlantic and Caribbean and Eastern Atlantic all coutesy of Weatherstreet.com. I put these at the bottom because I don't know how to adjust the size so that it will fit in the sidebar and I don't want any more data in the top header that could obscure the posts.
Now the last thing I need to get working well is my standing in the TTLB Ecosystem. The TTLB site doesn't recognize the name of this blog when I search it yet when I tried to re-register it, it said it already exists so if anyone knows how to fix this I'd appreciate some feedback. The TTLB Ecosystem, Sitemeter and Neocounter are very important to me because it really makes me feel goo to see how my readership rises during tropical storm season. Thank you all for indulging my writing and opinons. It really made me feel good to see monthly readership rise from < 100 in the off season to 9,000 readers each month last July and August. I guess I must be doing something right.
Last year I added the Graphical Tropical Weather Outlook for the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific from NOAA and the tropical storm risk tracker. All three of these maps are clickable and will take you to the home site for additional data and information.
In the side bar we've had details of current activity from the National Hurricane Center for both coasts. The links in these sidebar widgets are clickable and take you to the NHC website. Lately I've noticed that when an active system develops, the widget automatically displays the graphics rather than just the links. Of course this messes up the delivery of the information. I will be watching this throughout the season and will see what I can do to get this straightened out.
Two new widgets I've added in the sidebar are located below the Dumb Ox Blogroll Updates.
The first is just for fun - Al Gore's Doomsday Countdown. The Vice President stated that we only have ten years to act before we face total destruction of the planet. This is just plain BS but I'm not above having some fun with it. Based on current observations and data, in the 6+ years remaining until we burn up due to global warming, we are likely to be in a little ice age. If temperatures continue to drop we will be freezing our backsides off while we try to survive all the draconian climate legislation such as cap and trade (tax and scam).
The other new widget is news in science and nature from Earthweek - A Diary of the Planet.
I've struggled with deciding whether or not to add this widget for quite a while now. After two or three false attempts, I've finally decided to go with it. The negatives are few - mainly just that they promote AGW alarmism. This can be seen in the lead item this week "Displaced by Climate" discussing how many people will lose their homes due to rising sea levels of which there is no evidence and is only predicted by obtuse computer models.
On the positive side, this Earthweek site does a good job of documenting observable environmental activity across the planet. Everything from hurricanes and volcano eruptions to the high and low temperature.
I do want to emphasize that while we have major differences with wacko environmentalist alarmists, environmental stewardship is something I take very seriously. The atmosphere and oceans have been cleaned up significantly sincle the 1970's as I have pointed out several times previously. Real pollution is decreasing and while there is still work to do - such as smog in Houston and Los Angeles, we have made great strides. Focusing a strong effort to regulate CO2, which is not a pollutant, will only serve to take resources away from more important activities such as abatement of real pollutants and adaptating to the naturally changing climate.
Finally, I ask that you scroll down to the bottom of the blog. Last year I added a graph of the progress of named storms throughout the season. I've now expanded this to include graphical representation of hurricanes (as well as named storms) for 2009 plus live radar for the Gulf of Mexico, Western Atlantic and Caribbean and Eastern Atlantic all coutesy of Weatherstreet.com. I put these at the bottom because I don't know how to adjust the size so that it will fit in the sidebar and I don't want any more data in the top header that could obscure the posts.
Now the last thing I need to get working well is my standing in the TTLB Ecosystem. The TTLB site doesn't recognize the name of this blog when I search it yet when I tried to re-register it, it said it already exists so if anyone knows how to fix this I'd appreciate some feedback. The TTLB Ecosystem, Sitemeter and Neocounter are very important to me because it really makes me feel goo to see how my readership rises during tropical storm season. Thank you all for indulging my writing and opinons. It really made me feel good to see monthly readership rise from < 100 in the off season to 9,000 readers each month last July and August. I guess I must be doing something right.
posted by KWR | 11:00 AM
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