Supreme Court - Its Analog Ways

Isn't often I can say something good of any government branch dept, agency, etc.

Been disappointed many times, but it seems the United States Supreme Court can do at least on thing right, and that is maintaining a decorum and keep a secret.

While many are focus on a Historic Week Opens as High Court Saves Biggest Cases for Last  this week, I found this aspect process interesting.

As Social Media Swirls Around It, Supreme Court Sticks to Its Analog Ways

WASHINGTON — Chad Griffin, a gay rights advocate, has arrived twice this month at the Supreme Court with his bags packed, ready to fly off to a rally if the court rules on same-sex marriage. Ted Olson, a veteran lawyer who argued the case, will be sitting in court on Monday, just in case. And Lisa Blatt, a Supreme Court litigator, is one of many Washington court watchers who will be eagerly refreshing her Web browser.

They will be joined, if Twitter is any guide, by thousands of anxious, curious people across the country eagerly waiting for the court to rule on a remarkable number of major cases with huge implications. With just days remaining in its 2013 schedule, the court has left dangling its considered opinions on same-sex marriage, affirmative action and the nation’s voting rights laws.

“We all crave information instantaneously,” said Ms. Blatt, a lawyer at Arnold & Porter who has argued 33 cases before the court, including one that is still pending this year. Last Monday, and again last Thursday, she found herself scouring legal blogs, looking for whatever clues might exist.

“I always thought those people were strange, and there I was, doing it,” she said. “People are dying to know something that they can’t.”

FULL STORY - NEW YORK TIMES

Lower Hurricane Frequency

The global warming extremists seem to be loosing steam. After hurricane Katrina we were warned of more and stronger hurricanes due to human activity. Seems, according to this latest study, it is our production which has moderated the threat of hurricanes.

When will people learn there is no sense to attempt to control something we don't fully understand, like weather?

Man-made particles lowered hurricane frequency: study

AFP - Higher levels of air pollution reduced the frequency of North Atlantic hurricanes and other tropical storms for most of the 20th century, a study said Sunday.

Adding to evidence for mankind's impact on the weather system, the probe found a link between these powerful storms and aerosols, the scientific term for specks of matter suspended in a gas.

Aerosols can occur in natural form -- as dusty volcanic plumes, clouds or fog -- but are also man-made, such as sooty particles from burning coal or oil.

The study focused on particles from North America and Europe that were generated mainly from burning fossil fuels.

Researchers from the UK Met Office created weather simulations covering the period 1860 to 2050.

They found that tropical storms were much less frequent during periods when emissions

of man-made aerosols increased over the North Atlantic.

"Increases  in anthropogenic emissions (particularly of aerosols) through most of the last century is found to have reduced hurricane activity," co-author Ben Booth told AFP.

"The cooling impact of man-emitted aerosols may have had a more important regional impact on climate than we previous appreciated."

Aerosols reflect solar rays and change the brightness of clouds, which affects how much of the Sun's heat is projected onto the surface of the sea, the authors suggest.

FULL STORY

Mansion Shortage

Some things just makes me wonder.

Never been one to be jealous of those who benefit by hard work,  accomplish material benefits I will never realize.

Then again, maybe I am lying to myself, in that I feel some joy in this.

Mansion Shortage Could Slow Sales in Rich Towns

Wealthy home buyers are quickly running out of mansions to buy.

While housing inventory is falling throughout the country, it's falling especially fast in some of the country's richest ZIP codes. A study from Altos Research, the Mountain View, Ca., real-estate research firm, found that inventory in the nation's 90 wealthiest ZIP codes fell 15 percent over the past year, slightly faster than the broader market.

But in the richest ZIP codes, inventory is down more than 50 percent. In a ZIP code in Carmel, Calif., inventory fell 76 percent over the past year. There were only four homes left on the market priced at $1 million or more as of the end of May, according to Altos.

In Palm Beach, Fla., the number of $1 million-plus homes has plunged by 70 percent, falling from 89 to 26. And in the Old Greenwich, Conn. ZIP code, there are only 10 homes left priced at $1 million or more, down 58 percent, according to Altos.

Mansion Shortage