New Years Eve

I can’t believe it, 2007 is coming to an end. Just 11 hours left until 2007 is gone and 2008 is here. It felt like yesterday when 2006 departed into memory lane and 2007 came. Time flies fast. Cheers to a new year. Welcome 2008!

A Look Back At 2007

I cannot believe it. 2007 just came like yesterday and now it is almost over. Time flies fast, like lightning. Just one more day of 2007 and it will be 2008. Since 2007 will be gone into memory lane, let us look back at this interesting and at times tragic year.

2007 can be defined by the following things:
The Iraq War and Yazidi communities bombings, which claimed 572 lives, the deadliest since September 11, 2001.
Lisa Nowak trying to kill a fellow astronaut in Florida, which would of been big news until……..
Anna Nicole Smith died in the Bahamas.
The never ending Global Warming debate.
The never ending scandal of trainwrecks Paris Hilton, Brittany Spears, and Lindsey Lohan.
Virginia Tech Massacre, which claimed 32 lives.
Ongoing genocide in Darfur region of Sudan.
Tornadoes in Florida and Alabama, in which 8 students died in Enterprise High School. A school is suppose to be a safe haven for students.
The subprime mortgage and housing crisis, which could get worse in 2008. The housing bubble popped. Many houses are being foreclosed, especially in Phoenix and South Florida.
Bridge collapse in Minneapolis that claism 13 lives. Now that is scary!
The surge of soldiers in Iraq.
Ongoing illegal immigration debate.
Release of the iPhone.
A bunch of upsets in college football.
Wildfires in California.
OJ Simpsons getting caught for robbery in Las Vegas.
Chinese imports being recalled.
Never ending charde of Fred Phelps and company.
Start of 2008 Presidential campaigns.
The Writer’s Guild strike starts and will likely continue into 2008. This will impact this season’s TV and most likely 2008-2009 season. Also, movies will be impacted by this strike.
Tropical Cyclone Sidr makes landfall on Bangladesh and claims 3,500 lives, making it the deadliest this century so far.
The Megan Meier My Space suicide controversy and the shunning of Lori Drew and company.
Assassination of Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan and the fallout from it.

It is a tough decision to determine the top 10 news events for 2007. Top 10 News Event For 2007.
1.) Virginia Tech Massacre and Iraq War/Yazidi Communities Bombings
2.) Benazir Bhutto Assassination
3.) Tropical Cyclone Gonu impact on Bangladesh
4.) The mortgage crisis and economy
5.) The surge of soldiers in Iraq
6.) Recall of Chinese import products
7.) Illegal immigration debate
8.) Iran’s ongoing nuclear program
9.) Myanmar crackdown
10.) Minneapolis Bridge Collapse

Here are my predictions for 2008.
-Patriots will win Super Bowl XLII.
-A mild recession will happen and will last at most for 6 months.
-Housing crisis will get worse.
-A powerful Arctic freeze will come down and break many records.
-America will win the most gold medals in the 2008 Summer Olympics.
-An active hurricane season, 15/8/5.
-One of the hurricanes will make landfall, most likely on the Eastern Seaboard.
-TV will become a reality show wasteland as long as the WGA strike goes on.
-WGA strike will end in April at earliest.
-OJ Simpson will be tried and found guilty, expect a media spectacle.
-There will be more mass shootings.

Cheers to a new year. I wish everyone here a Happy and Safe New Years!

Pakistan’s Bhutto killed in attack

Pakistan’s Bhutto killed in attack
By SADAQAT JAN and ZARAR KHAN, Associated Press Writers
Thu Dec 27, 5:17 PM ETRAWALPINDI, Pakistan – Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated Thursday by an attacker who shot her after a campaign rally and then blew himself up. Her death stoked new chaos across the nuclear-armed nation, an important U.S. ally in the war on terrorism.

At least 20 others were killed in the attack on the rally for Jan. 8 parliamentary elections where the 54-year-old former prime minister had just spoken.

At least nine people were killed across the country in rioting that broke out in the aftermath of the assassination. In the southern port city of Karachi, where she was born, angry Bhutto supporters shot at police and burned a gas station.

Yahoo-Pakistan’s Bhutto killed in attack

Benazir Bhutto has been assassinated in Pakistan today. Very sad day for Pakistan. It is their JFK Assassination. Bhutto was a woman president in a Muslim nation, which is a first. Bhutto was pro-American and a moderate, which is very brave of her in a nation is hostile to that type of thinking. Bhutto was defiant in spite of all the terrorism and hostility towards her. She came from a political family in southern Pakistan. Bhutto’s father, siblings, and children are all dead too. The entire Bhutto family is dead. I am not surprised that Al-Qaeda is behind the attack. They have operated in northern Pakistan and Afghanistan and are spreading like wildfire. Pakistan could fall apart sooner since Bhutto is dead. Riots are breaking out in Pakistan. To make matters worse they have nuclear weapons, which could be a problem in the future. Her death will make her a martyr.

2007-2008 Winter Forecast

Since winter has started. People are wondering what this winter will hold, especially in Texas. Since we are in a La Nina phase of the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phase, it will be more likely to be warmer and drier winter. However, that does not mean we are going to be free of Arctic blasts. Some of the biggest Arctic blasts in Texas occurred in La Nina winters. In fact, the longest Arctic blast for Texas was in a La Nina winter, the winter of 1950-1951. The reason that winter blasts are colder in La Nina winters is because the air is drier, which allows temperatures to cool down even more. Also, the ENSO is not the only factor involved for determining how winter will be like.

I believe that other climate factors are involved, in particular the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), and Pacific North American (PNA). Here are the indices at the time of the freeze that occurred in La Nina winters.
January 1948
0.6

January-February 1951
1.0 1.4 = 1.2

February 1965
-3.7

January 1971
-1.2

February 1989
3.2

December 1995
-3.8

January 1996
-1.8

February 1996
0.9

December 1998
1.6

January 1999
1.3

December 2000
-2.2

January 2001
-0.1

NAO Indices

It is split down the middle when it comes to NAO influence in La Nina winters.

Now, let’s look at the PDO role in this. This time it is PDO indices.

January 1948
-0.11

January-February 1951
-1.54 -1.06 = -1.3

February 1965
-1.16

January 1971
-1.90

February 1989
-1.02

December 1995
0.16

January 1996
0.59

February 1996
0.75

December 1998
-0.44

January 1999
-0.32

December 2000
0.52

January 2001
0.60

PDO Indices

A more negative PDO is more likely to give Texas cold winters in La Nina years. 7 of the 12 were negative PDOs.

Now, let’s look at the PNA role in this. This time it is PNA indices.

January 1948
N/A

January-February 1951
-0.41 -1.36 = -0.885

February 1965
-0.55

January 1971
-1.39

February 1989
-1.06

December 1995
0.92

January 1996
-0.02

February 1996
-0.30

December 1998
-0.09

January 1999
0.16

December 2000
1.23

January 2001
1.51

PNA Indices

Since January 1948 PNA data is missing, we will have to start with 1951. A more negative PNA is more likely to give Texas cold winters in La Nina years. 7 of the 11 were negative PNAs.

So, what does this mean for this winter? Let’s see, right now, the NAO is in positive territory, while PDO and PNA is trending towards negative. So, we could see a freeze this winter.

CPC-NAO Condition
JISAO-PDO Condition
CPC-PNA Condition

Boxing Day/Post Christmas

The day after Christmas or the second day of Christmas. Also known as Boxing Day. Did you all enjoy your Christmas and your gifts? I sure did. I got to see friends and give people gifts. To top that, the weather was nice. Most Christmases I remember were clear and cool days. I can only think of a few instances where Christmas rained, the last one being last year, but it too cleared out. I remember it even snowed back in 2004, which has never recorded. I am pretty sure it has snowed on Christmas, but went unrecorded. Warm Christmases are rare too, the last one was in 2005. Christmas for me is one the nicest days of the year in terms of weather and as a day.

There is only 365 days until Christmas is back or 337 days until the Christmas season starts the Friday after Thanksgiving which falls on November 27, 2008. It may seem long, but time flies fast and it will come again soon before you even know it. That is how any days are like. Well, before Christmas 2008 comes, there is New Years, Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Good Friday/Easter, Memorial Day, Hurricane Season, July 4th, Labor Day, Halloween, and Thanksgiving. All our great days, well with the exception of hurricane season, which can be a bad year, like we saw in 2005. I hope to do a year in review soon. So I wish everyone here a Happy and Safe New Years.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to everyone from Arctic Chicken! May there be peace.

Christmas Eve

I cannot believe it. It is already Christmas Eve. Just a month ago was Thanksgiving. Last year’s Christmas felt like yesterday. I had a great weekend of partying and being merry. I also got to see friends, some I have not seen in years, some as long as since I graduated high school. Good times. It is hard to imagine how the world had changed from 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and Virginia Tech Massacre. These horrible events show how much it is worth to see your friends again and also with Christmas coming. In spite of those horrible events, I did not dwell on them at the parties. However, we should never forget the people who lost loved ones whether from cancer, suicide, murder, our soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq, terrorism like 9/11, 2004-2005 hurricane season like Katrina, and mass murder. I had a jolly good time actually. Last night I went to a large party, which was a Sunday night. I never have partied on a Sunday night. It was for a good cause for charity. The party was crowded and full of beautiful and young people. There was music and dancing. I enjoyed every minute of it. Brought back memories of college party days. In fact, I saw many of my friends from college. Everyone was in the Christmas spirit, which was cool. This will be a Christmas I will never forget for years to come.

Megan Meier My Space Suicide

You might all be aware about the Megan Meier suicide case, which broke nationally last month in this article. Originally, the suicide happened on October 16, 2006. They did not find out until not too long after Thanksgiving. Once, the Meiers found out about it, they broke the Foosball table and the family behind it the hoax reported it to the police. It is revealed by these police reports. The family involved is the Drews, Curt and Lori Drew, who have two children. Once, it was revealed they were behind the cruel prank, they were shunned by the neighborhood. They were subjected to death threats and vandalism. Also, they had quite a few prank 911 calls. When it broke nationally, someone called 911 and told them that there was a dead body inside the Drews house and nearly 20 police officers stormed the Drews with their guns drawn at them. Fast forward to today, the Drews are the most hated family in America and the world. They are shunned like OJ Simpson, David Cash, John Walker Lindh, Fred Phelps, and Michael Crook. These people are shunned by everyone, regardless of who they are.

The Megan Meier suicide case is eerily similar to Wanda Webb Holloway, the Texas Cheerleader Murder, which happened in Channelview in 1991. Holloway wanted to be a cheerleader, but her father would not allow her to be one because the costumes were too racy. When she had her own children, in this case a daughter, named Shanna, Holloway wanted her to be a cheerleader. She went to great lenghts to have Shanna be a cheerleader. Shanna was friends with Amber Heath and Holloway wanted to kill her daughter’s friends parents to cause distress and have her drop out. However, that never happened and Wanda Holloway was caught. Holloway was crying and while in court and was sentenced to prison, but later released because one of the jurors was on probation. She was tried again and sentenced to prison again in 1996. However, she was released in 1997 and forced to perform community service.

There are differences between Wanda Holloway and Lori Drew. Holloway was trying to repent and feel guilty about it. Also, no one was killed and adults were targeted. On the other hand, Lori Drew caused a 13 year old girl to die. Also, she has no remorse and regret. As it turns out, it was Lori and her daughter, Sarah, did this charade. Lori felt her daughter was being harassed by Megan, so they enlisted a 18 year old girl named Ashley Grills, who created Josh Evans. Ashley worked for Lori Drew’s advertising company, Drew Advantage. At first things went well, than everything went downhill. Also, there were other people involved in this charade and Lori and Sarah Drew encouraged other people to be involved, likely other adults and adolescents. These other people piled on Megan. Even though Lori Drew was not directly involved, she is still guilty of this.

As for any laws broken, I think there were, stalking and child predatory laws. Remember Dateline with Chris Hanson and Catch a Predator? Those methods that Lori Drew used were similar to what a pedophile would use. The notion that our laws cannot keep in track with technology is pure hogwash. Last time I checked, harassment is harassment, whether it is mail, phone, or Internet. Yes, the Internet can be seen by everyone, while mail takes time, and phone is individual, unless it is being wiretapped. The answer to this problem is to enforce existing laws. We don’t need new laws for this. We have many laws in the book. We can pass many laws, but they are worthless if not actually enforced. Our laws are ridiculously complex, they easily take up hundreds of pages. I mean why they have to so complex?

Lori Drew is a narcisstic sociopath who enjoys bullying and hurting people. I do not believe she is crazy because she is obviously calculating, unlike a crazy person. Crazy people are more spur the moment, unlike sociopaths, who are calculating. In fact, she is typical of most sociopaths, really selfish and self-centered. They tend to be really delusional and paranoid and have no empathy for other people. Lori Drew really has not matured and grown up and wants to be a friend of her children. I suspect Lori Drew was a bully and got her jollies doing it as an adolscent. She was the mean girl in school and wanted everything her way. We all have the mean girls when we were in school.

Does Lori Drew and company deserved to be shunned? Absolutely! I am not a fan of vigilante justice, but vigilantism is when people are attacked and killed. Shunning does NOT constitute vigilantism. What goes around, comes around. Sow what you reap. I have no sympathy for the Drew family. In fact, I can care less if Lori Drew was volunteering her time at Ground Zero following 9/11 terrorist attack or the Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina. Lori Drew brought this whole thing on herself and family. She has NO ONE TO BLAME but herself SOLELY. Shunning is a good thing and keeps people in line. It worked well on OJ Simpson, David Cash, Fred Phelps, John Walker Lindh, and Michael Crook. It worked well, that OJ Simspon is disgraced beyond redemption. For you people who disagree with shunning, every society has done it. I tend to think that either Ashley Grills or one of those unnamed assailants may turn around go after the Drews because they felt they got screwed over by them. They feel that going after the Drews is a form of redemption. Ashley Grills attempted suicide because of the extreme condemnation it received and is a mental hospital. Most likely she is feeling resentful towards the Drews.

There was a vile blog called Megan Had It Coming, which I will not link. It first appeared after it broke and pillored Megan and accused her of being a drama queen and bully. When DA Jack Banas decided not to charge Lori Drew and Ashley Grills, the author reveals to be Lori Drew. When I first saw the blog, I didn’t think it was Lori Drew who wrote it. If she really did, than she showed her true colors as a vile person. Here is who I think wrote the blog:

1.) The Drews Themselves-Feels like they are telling their side of the story. One problem is that they are told to be quiet by their lawyer.
2.) Ashley Grills-Same as the Drews. She is in a mental hospital.
3.) One of the unnamed tormentors-Has a guilty conscious and fears the same backlash as the Drews are going through. Also, feels that posing as the Drews to make their life a living Hell would be redemption. However, it is not clear if others were involved, which has been indicated.
4.) Someone in the community-The author knows a lot about this case. The author is probably very resentful of the Drews and wants them out of the community.
5.) Someone who knows Lori Drew personally-Knew Lori Drew, but does not live in the area. Most likely has a grudge against her and used the controvesy to settle an old score.
6.) Troll/Prankster-Some professioal troll did it. I have seen trolls before at message boards. Many tend to be persistant and get banned many times. However, as pointed out, the author knows a lot about this case and goes into great details about it.

It is really anyone’s guess, since the blog is still there as of December 23, 2007. It is true that being an adolescent is a tough life, especially for girls. Lot of rumor spreading and backstabbing. Almost every female can relate to that. Even if Megan was mean to Sarah, Lori should of not been involved in it, unless the bullying was really bad. Megan had been bullied, perhaps Sarah encouraged others to bully her.

Lori Drew’s life is over as it is. The Drew family is a point she is beyond redemption. It will haunt her and family for the rest of their life. Sarah wil be shunned by everyone, as she is subjected to vicious harassment from this case. Lori’s adverstising company had to shut down after businesses left in disgust. Curt Drew was a real estate agent and was fired in connection to the case. He was also fired from Burlington Coat Factory. If the Drews and company had been remorseful, apologized, and begged for forgiveness, this whole thing would of never happened to begin with. It shows what kind of vile people they are. Shunning and stigmas are not removable, they are permenant. Even though OJ Simpson was acquitted in 1995, he is still reviled as if it was the day of the verdict. It shows that how powerful social shunning is. Lori Drew and company will have to live with being shunned for the rest of their life and that is just too bad for them.

First Post

Hi all. This is my first posting of the day. My blog will mostly be devoted to weather, astronomy, and news/politics. As for why I chose the name Arctic Chicken is because it is a common nickname for ptarmigan, which is an Arctic grouse related to chicken. They are really cute birds with feathery feet. Since Christmas is coming, I wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

Christmas Observing (Well Sort Of)

My first time I have taken out the telescope to starwatch after a busy semester of school and work. It was truly worth it because I did well in school. The dewpoint and humidity was low after a storm came by earlier in the morning. The sky was clear and seeing was good with little to no humidity. However, the Moon was bright, almost like if it was day time, so it made starwatching harder. If it was a Full Moon, forget it. However, I manage to see a few objects through my 8 inch Meade Starfinder telescope.

Moon-Really bright. So bright that I was blinded for a second. Got Moon blindness!
Mars-Saw some details including the polar ice caps, especially at 368x magnification.
Pleiades-Reminds me of a dipper and never ceases to amaze me.
Orion Nebula-Very easy to see in spite of the bright Moon. Spectacular as usual. I will have plenty of time to enjoy before it is no more and is another star cluster.
M34-Stumbled upon it and was easy to see.
Sirius-Shine like a crazy diamond!

M=Messier

Not bad for someone who has not starwatched in months. If it wasn’t for the Moon, I would of likely seen more objects. Hopefully, when there is a New Moon with clear skies and low dew points and humidity, I will starwatch again.