gregladen | June 19, 2017Michael Mann, author of some of the best books on climate science (including The Madhouse Effect: How Climate Change Denial Is Threatening Our Planet, Destroying Our Politics, and Driving Us Crazy, The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars: Dispatches from the Front Lines, and Dire Predictions, 2nd Edition: Understanding Climate Change) and discoverer of the Hockey Stick (the graph, not the actual stick) has been very appropriately awarded the coveted Stephen H. Schneider Award.
Michael Mann, distinguished professor of atmospheric science and director of the Earth System Science Center, Penn…
gregladen | June 14, 2017Short answer: No, we do not shoot them. But the argument that we don’t shoot them is not as simple as it seems.
Rand Paul: Shoot the CongressmanRight Wing: The purpose of the 2nd Amendment is to allow us to be armed, so we can shoot at the government when we need to. (This section has been heavily modified at the request of Senator Paul)
The purpose of the second amendment, and the reason to stay heavily armed and to be prepared to use the firearms the Constitution guarantees we can keep, is to lift tyranny should it befall the land. An increasing number of people now realize that a president…
gregladen | June 14, 2017This is interesting.
It is a letter from Hachette Livre, a major international publisher, to Resolute Forest Products, the group that is trying to sue a number of environmental groups into submission. (See these posts: Taking The Axe To The Environmental Movement: Resolute v. Greenpeace and Freedom of Speech, Resolute Forestry, Stand.Earth, Greenpeace: New Developments) Hachette Livre uses Resolute, and seems to be a significant customer of the tree cutting pulp giant. And, they are giving Resolute a little what for:
HACHETTE LIVRE’S COMMITMENT TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Richard Garneau…
gregladen | June 14, 2017No, this is not about that.
I believe it is true that for decades, shooters and politically violent people (two overlapping categories) in the US were right wingers, almost always. Case in point: the white supremacists who have now all been handed (a little bit of) jail time for emptying a pistol into a crowd of protesters at a #BLM rally outside a police station in Minneapolis (and yes, they were white supremacists).
I've also always believed that one of the reasons the right wing has the privileged luxury of hating any kind of sensible gun law and regulation reform is because they know…
gregladen | June 11, 2017... for the science literate or geek. It is hard to think up gifts at the last minute, so I'm passing on a few suggestions that have been mentioned lately in my presence.
Some Amazon Kindle e-readers are $20 off
A second monitor (or a third). I like this one.
A Darth Vader Pen Holder
Virtual Reality: Google Cardboad Kit, Magicoo 3D VR Video Glasses, VR Headset for Movies and Games, Compatible with All The 3.5"-6.0" Smartphones (Black)
Dune for Kindle for 1.99
A stick made out of metal designed to poke at meat on the BBQ
gregladen | June 9, 2017ADDED, ANOTHER CHEAP BOOK YOU MIGHT WANT:Dune
The following random thought will eventually become a more carefully written blog post, but I want to get this out there sooner than later.
Mention electric cars, or solar panels, or any other kind of thing a person might buy and deploy to reduce their Carbon footprint.
Mention that to enough people and some wise ass will eventually come along and tell you how wrong you are. About how electric cars are worse for the environment than gas cars because bla bla bla, or how solar panels are worse for the environment than burning natural gas because of…
gregladen | June 7, 2017You've heard to story. I'm here to give you a little context.
A pretty typical early handaxe, made by a Homo erectus. This was a big flake made from a bigger rock. The big flake was subsequently flaked to make this handaxe. The word "handaxe" can be spelled about nine different ways.
But in case you haven't heard the story, this is from the press release which is, so far, the only information generally available:
New finds of fossils and stone tools from the archaeological site of Jebel Irhoud, Morocco, push back the origins of our species by one hundred thousand years and show that by…
gregladen | June 7, 2017I can't give this a meaningful review because I don't have the setup to test it out, Coding iPhone Apps for Kids: A playful introduction to Swift by Gloria Winquist and Matt McCarthy looks like it is up to the high standards of this publisher and these authors, and might be just the thing for your kid:
Apple’s Swift is a powerful, beginner-friendly programming language that anyone can use to make cool apps for the iPhone or iPad. In Coding iPhone Apps for Kids, you’ll learn how to use Swift to write programs, even if you’ve never programmed before.
You’ll work in the Xcode playground, an…
gregladen | June 6, 2017Screw the so-called Federal Government, once part of a great democracy, now a great joke run by an insane clown and his posse.
Most of the hard work in the energy transition needs to be done at the levels of the state and the individual anyway. So, with Trump taking the so-called Federal Government, which most of us now recognize as illegitimate and an annoyance at best as is slowly disappears bit by bit and becomes nothing other than a way to transfer tax money to rich people (until we stop paying our taxes), let's just get on with saving civilization, the planet, our children, and all that…
gregladen | June 6, 2017I know you all loved Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power by Rachel Maddow, but perhaps some of you have not read it yet or, like me, Rachel gave you a physically real copy of it so you don't have the Kindle version. Now is your chance, since the Kindle version is $1.99 right now. I have no idea how long this is going to last.
gregladen | June 5, 2017A Swift Guide to Butterflies of North America is a field guider's field guide. It is the shape and size of a traditional field guide. The designers of this book said "we don't need no stinking margins" so there are no margins. Color bleeds on the page edges allow a quick index to major butterfly categories. There is a two page spread visual index. A no nonsense introduction give you the basics about how to use the book, how to be a butterflyer, and how to not be a jerk about butterflies (like, don't net them and kill them). The front covers even have those flaps that you can use as…
gregladen | June 5, 2017State Auditor Rebecca Otto is running for Governor of Minnesota. She will seek the DFL (Democratic Party) Endorsement. There are several other candidates either declared or likely to run, but Otto stands head and shoulders above all the others, especially in three areas:
1) Honesty and integrity in government.
Otto has been recognized nationally by the auditors around the country, and this is for good reason. In fact, she's recognized internationally. The Minnesota Auditor's office, under Otto, is one of those places the US State Department sends people from other countries to figure out…
gregladen | June 4, 2017I wonder if the original old fashioned operas were like this, about events of their times, and thus engaging and compelling like this one is. Plus, ROFLMAO.
Check it out:
gregladen | June 4, 2017Several weeks ago I tried once again, after many prior ill fated attempts over several years, to get a device that would play music, audio books, and be a radio. The audiobook part wasn't the most important part, but the ability to play various audio files AND act as a radio AND not be a big giant thing I had to strap to a body part AND be sturdy were all important. This latest attempt has gone very well, and I now have a device that is very nice and therefore, I figured you'd want one too.
This time I tried the AGPtEK M20S 8GB Mini MP3 Player(Expandable Up to 64GB), Lossless Sound Touch…
gregladen | June 3, 2017The amazing Betty Folliard, former school board member, Minnesota house representative, and the woman behind a number of important political campaign, has a radio show on AM950 The Progressive Voice of Minnesota (where I occassionally voice as well, but on a different show) called "A Woman's Place."
Today, Betty interviewed Minnesota State Auditor Rebecca Otto, who is running for Governor of Minnesota.
Here's the interview:
[soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/325200497" params="color=ff5500" width="100%" height="166" iframe="true" /]
Rebecca explains why she is running, and…
gregladen | June 3, 2017This just came across my desk. These are not amazing deals, but they are pretty good deals. I'll put the list price and asking price down so you can decide if you want to ignore this.
A Global Warming Primer: Answering Your Questions About The Science, The Consequences, and The Solutions was $15 is now $10.20. (See this post for more info on this and related books)
The Greatest Story Ever Told--So Far: Why Are We Here? by Krauss, was $27, now $14.16.
Welcome to the Universe: An Astrophysical Tour by Neil deGrasse Tyson and others, was $39.95, now 26.74.
Ruby Wizardry: An Introduction to…
gregladen | June 3, 2017For some reason, Facebook is not posting reliably and I will not abide writing paragraphs that the Internet sucks into oblivion!
So, I have a few thoughts I'll put here and try to link to.
Rebecca Otto for Governor
Let's start with Rebecca Otto, who just gave a great talk at the DFL (that's what we Minnesotans call "Democrats") Environmental Caucus meeting. Rebecca is running for Governor, and we need her to win.
I've written a bit about that (see: Rebecca Otto: by far the strongest and most progressive candidate for Minnesota Governor in 2018), and some time over the next week or so I'…
gregladen | June 2, 2017I got a letter from a Minnesota-based teacher who is getting inundated by students asking questions about Paris. Many of those questions are dogwhistles (the students do not realize that) indicating that they've been getting their information from Trump supporters, or so I can confidently guess. (The school is in an area where many voted for Trump.)
Here's my response. Short version: he lied about everything.
Most people in Minnesota who have asthma have it because of coal plant generated pollution. Shutting down the coal plants is a primary step in reducing climate change. So, even…
gregladen | June 2, 2017If you are upset about Trump and upset about Trump pulling the US out of the Paris agreement, please let me help you get through the day.
Trump announcing that the US is pulling out of Paris does not mean the end of Paris, the end of action on climate change, or much else about global warming. I'll explain why in a moment. The US pulling out of Paris could even be interpreted as better than the US staying in. I'll explain that too.
I'm not saying that Trump should have pulled out, I'm just saying that at the moment, if you are deeply concerned about the climate and the future, which you…
gregladen | May 31, 2017The climate change documentary A Sea Change will be shown at the Maple Grove Library, in the Western Twin Cities, by the Northwest Minneapolis Climate Action group, this Wednesday at 7:00 PM. See you there!
Here is a trailer: