Graphic of the Day - Celestial Sphere

Artist Pablo Carlos Budassi created this unusual representation of the known universe which he explained this way: “Our Sun and the solar system are at the very center of this image. They are followed by the outer ring of Milky Way Galaxy, one of the two major arms of Milky Way, a ring of other closer galaxies like Andromeda, rest of the cosmos, cosmic microwave background radiation leftover from the big bang, and finally a ring of plasma also generated by the big bang.” Read more about it HERE. To view a more expanded version of this image click HERE and for massively expanded version click on the image in the window accessed via that link. Image courtesy of Pablo Carlos Budassi via Wikipedia (all rights reserved).

Let's Keep It Consistent, Y'all

When the President of the United States is a Republican, my Conservative friends seem to have no problems with the activities of various federal agencies from the Department of the Interior to the Justice Department and so on. When the President is a Democrat then these self-same Conservative Social Justice Warriors spontaneously switch perspectives and cast vile aspersions upon the very same government agencies doing the very same activities. And you don't think Conservatives (like Liberals) exist in nearly entirely emotional/cultural bubbles whose surfaces function as heavily filtering lenses through which reality is highly distorted?

Graphic of the Day - El Niño Get's Its MJO

This interesting graphic comes to us courtesy of a Discover Magazine blog post HERE. It refers to the Madden-Julian Oscillation in the Tropical Pacific Ocean that is currently intensifying the ongoing El Niño conditions in the Pacific Ocean. (Earth image: Japan Meteorological Agency. Diagram: Mike Baker, National Weather Service, Boulder, Colorado. Graphics mashup: Tom Yulsman)

Picture of the Day - "El Niño"

The late and beloved SNL icon Chris Farley contributed his memorable character, "El Niño", to weather history in this skit which ran in the fall of 1997 within several weeks of his untimely death due to drug overdose.  Watch entirety of skit HERE. I chose to share this today because after all the nay-saying by the nattering nabobs of negativity in regards to a stormy weather pattern not having yet arrived, El Niño really has arrived and today California got a fairly decent clobbering from the atmosphere with damage reported.
Image courtesy NBC (all rights reserved).

Graphic of the Day - El Niño From Hell III

This is the latest comparisonal false-color graphic comparing the last powerful El Niño with the ongoing event. This graphic shows departures from normal of sea surface temperatures with blues into purples showing below average temps and reds into whites showing above average temperatures. It is obvious this event is more powerful and pervasive spatially especially as compared to last October when I previously posted this graphic comparison HERE.
Image courtesy of NASA.

Picture of the Day - Putin On The Wrist

Per a Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty article I just read there is a new scent on the geopolitical wind.
Image courtesy RFE/RL (all rights reserved).

Picture of the Day - Change On The Wind

Earlier this evening I had a security detail at a wedding at the AARP building in Atascadero, CA. I arrived 15 minutes early and captured this image looking southeastward just before 4 p.m. PST. What is revealed is the drought-afflicted, dry lakebed of Atascadero Lake, previously submerged ruins, and a sky indicating a change in the weather pattern from cold and dry shifting to a more El Niño weather pattern with an invigorated subtropical jet stream guiding a series of Pacific storms into California in the coming days. Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).