Ten years. Hard to believe. I want to thank Michelle Strecker, Kim Dugger, Mindy East and Armstrong-Chamberlain for their contributions over the years.  That very first day I had no idea that the biggest scandal in the history of my field, atmospheric science, would break the very next day: Climategate. I'll talk about that later today. 

Blasphemy: “Jesus of Nazareth has now appointed one of his successors, Greta Thunberg.”                  -- Church of Sweden (Evangelical Lutheran) Big Climate wants power and money. Urban elites want a hip religion believed by other elites (as opposed to those old-fashioned faiths what are about, say, God).  These days, none of this is about science. 

There are two excellent reasons not to stand too close the the Big Boy as it heads west across Kansas and then to Denver and Cheyenne to wrap up its tour. #1. Is Safety!  Periodically, trains will throw objects. You could be injured or killed. Stay back at least 25 feet. #2. The Big Boy is so big you can't really see it too close. Relative of mine (far too close for safety and good viewing). See what I mean about "too close"? So, for the sake of safety and better viewing, stay back 25 or more feet.  The train is on display at KC Union Station Monday. It will then head west across Kansas on the ex-Kansas Pacific track to Denver the rest of the week.

Richard Smith This was the Big Boy passing through Martin City, MO about 4:30 this afternoon. He put on a very impressive show. My family was with me (except for one ill granddaughter). The other granddaughter was here and there are few things better than making family memories together.

Last week, the Daily Mail  had an article about Rod Stewart's never-before-seen model railroad. Daily Mail There were a couple items similar to my layout, Yet, he was inspired by American railways because that is where he was living when he began the model in 1993. At the time, he had recently built a new house in Los Angeles and included an attic room specifically for the layout. My layout is in the attic room and it was specially designed for the room. More surprising, my eye caught, within this huge grouping of buildings, signals and trains... ...near the center of the image is Kansas City's Western Auto sign. And, on a building with a very similar design to Rod's, is the same sign on my layout. They say "great minds think alike." In this case, I'd say, "train aficionados are on the same wavelength." And, today and Monday, Union Pacific's #4014 "Big Boy" locomotive will be passing through Kansas City. This may ...

It breaks my heart to see NOAA putting out nonsense graphs like this to boost catastrophic global warming. The genuine trend in disaster costs? As we have discussed many times, it is this: Please  read Joanne Nova's brief essay on this nonsense, especially NOAA's small print weasel words. As Dr. Roger Pielke, Jr., puts it: When you worry about today's disasters, keep in mind the 1900 Galveston Hurricane killed more than 8,000 people. That number may be as high as 12,000. As for violent tornadoes: There is no upward trend in major disasters due to global warming. Period. 

Please read this . A very clever solution to an issue I have had.