cmooney
Posts by this author
November 6, 2007
It seems I am barely settled in L.A. before I leave again. Tomorrow, I am off to the University of Alabama-Tuscaloosa, where I will be giving the second lecture in the newly launched "Alabama Perspectives on Sustainability and Climate Change" lecture series. The press release announcing the event…
November 6, 2007
[This post is for sci-fi fantasy geeks only. If you're not a sci-fi fantasy geek, read no further.]
So anyways, there's something of a paradox in my life right now. Even as I'm supposed to be supporting the Writers' Guild strike, I'm also anxiously awaiting the November 16 release of Paramount…
November 5, 2007
I've already had much to say about this year's puzzling Atlantic hurricane season. Indeed, I've called the year "schizophrenic." But now, the Houston Chronicle's crack science reporter Eric Berger has done an entire story on what the season does and doesn't mean. I'm quoted in there several times…
November 5, 2007
Last week, Sheril got amazing and (to me) unprecedented blogospheric results when she directly took on a troublesome commenter. While I doubt I'll get the same reaction, this post is in response to the same kind of thing.
Last week I wrote about the Hollywood screenwriters' strike and, as a fellow…
November 5, 2007
See here. Storm World made a list of 150 books in total, 25 of which are "nonfiction" entries. I'm honored.
November 1, 2007
[Big Media? Or the antidote to it?]
Out here in LA, you can't miss the news that the Writer's Guild of America is on the verge of striking. I'm getting pretty into the drama--reading blogs like Artful Writer (kinda middle ground) and the newly launched United Hollywood (pro-union), for example.…
November 1, 2007
Last week I published a detailed critique of Maryland-based climate activist and writer Mike Tidwell's book The Ravaging Tide. This week, I have followed up with Part II: My explanation of why it is that I'm going after Tidwell even though he's on my own "team," so to speak.
An excerpt:
In my view…
October 31, 2007
[Marbled Murrelet: "Hey, over here! Look how cute I am! Forget the CDC scandal, focus on me!"]
Okay: We all know about the forced editing of the CDC testimony. Outrageous stuff--and the kind of misbehavior that just makes the White House look silly and lame. But ask yourself: How much harm…
October 31, 2007
My latest Science Progress column just went up. It's about what we can and can't say about global warming and the California wildfires--and the strong parallels between the climate-wildfire debate and the climate-hurricane debate. A quotation:
...an important generalization about climate change…
October 30, 2007
The paper arrived for the first time at our place here in Silverlake today. Something about getting your local rag really makes you feel like you're rooted in a new location.
But though that observation might sound uplifting--and hey, this piece in the Times today was particularly great--it also…
October 29, 2007
Just when you thought hurricane season was over...Nope. Here's Tropical Storm Noel. Probably not going to get very intense...but a major rainfall risk in the Caribbean.
I had gotten fond of saying that this Atlantic hurricane season came in like a lion and went out like a lamb. Let's hope the lion…
October 27, 2007
As usual, the president's science adviser has been trotted out to explain away the administration's latest misbehavior with respect to climate science. Marburger just put out a statement (PDF), defending White House changes to CDC director Julie Gerberding's testimony. Because I've been on the road…
October 25, 2007
A few days ago I mentioned that I had been in College Park, Maryland, sitting on a panel to discuss the work of Mike Tidwell, author of The Ravaging Tide: Strange Weather, Future Katrinas, and the Coming Death of America's Coastal Cities. Tidwell's book has been assigned as the "first year book"…
October 24, 2007
Well, the region in which I've made my new home is on fire...though I'm not there right now...and inevitably, global warming issues are starting to be raised. I myself haven't had time yet to dig into the science--which I know exists--on the relationship between global warming and an increased risk…
October 24, 2007
Um...wasn't the Bush administration supposed to be taking global warming seriously now?
If that's the case, then why was the Office of Management and Budget involved in bowdlerizing the testimony of CDC director Julie Gerberding on the public health risks associated with a climate change? From AP:…
October 23, 2007
Along with Nisbet, I continue to give various versions of the Speaking Science 2.0 talk frequently--even though we are not always so good about updating the Speaking Science 2.0 webpage. Um, intern, anybody? Oh wait, that was my little sister, and now she's back at college...
...anyways, we're…
October 22, 2007
I don't know how many readers of "the Intersection" remember the blog's very earliest days. So let us reminisce: It was mid 2003, and I was living in California at the time, in Berkeley and later in Palo Alto. I'm not sure exactly when "The Intersection" launched, but I remember posting constantly…
October 19, 2007
As I mentioned earlier, I spent the beginning of this week in Hays, Kansas, where I had a number of successful events at Fort Hays State University. And now, they're available to be seen online.
First, I did what the folks at FHSU call a "Times talk"--in essence, I gave an entirely improvisational…
October 18, 2007
I've been running around crazy busy again, so I haven't had time until now to comment on Gore's Nobel, which I believe was richly deserved. However, there is what I would call a "paradox" about Gore and his recent achievements, the nature of which I try to outline in my latest DeSmogBlog weekly…
October 17, 2007
My latest contribution to Science Progress is now up. In essence, this is my final reaction to Hillary's big science speech, which I very much enjoyed--but I did have a number of qualms. One of them was her "crossing the streams," if you will, by implying or stating that restoring scientific…
October 17, 2007
When PZ reviewed my latest book as if it was a sci-fi novel, I thought the result was hilarious.
I certainly didn't think anyone would take him literally.
But now across my cluttered desk comes this:
Australia's Great Western Entertainment (GWE) has expanded backing for its kids and family sci-fi…
October 16, 2007
From a Fox News online report:
LOS ANGELES -- Jimmy Kimmel is going bicoastal as a TV talk show host.
The host of ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" will fill in for a vacationing Regis Philbin on "Live with Regis and Kelly" in New York while still hosting his namesake show from Los Angeles.
During the…
October 15, 2007
So: As a result of a dialogue sparked by Josh Rosenau, I now find myself in tiny Hays, Kansas, pop. 20,000, where I'm here to give a talk today at Fort Hays State University. Other than, like, Kansas City, I have never been in Kansas before that I can remember. I flew here in a turboprop. And it's…
October 11, 2007
So: I have just gone and done something really stupid in my latest "Storm Pundit" column--namely, made an eminently falsifiable (and almost certainly incorrect) prognostication.
More specifically: I hazarded the very hazardous prediction that there will be four more Category 4 or 5 tropical…
October 11, 2007
Well, I guess our first few Hillary posts were pretty positive...but with Sparticus's post, things turned vicious in a hurry!
And now, I'm here to pile on a bit with some slight criticism. Let me explain.
Lots of us here at ScienceBlogs want the once world-renowned Office of Technology Assessment,…
October 10, 2007
My latest DeSmogBlog piece is now up--as I say, I'm surprisingly optimistic that a lot of the GOP candidates actually seem to take global warming at least somewhat seriously. Except for the real right wingers. Anyway, can you believe Mike Huckabee said the following?
"We ought to be moving rapidly…
October 10, 2007
I was just surfing the great science blog of Eric Berger, who writes for the Houston Chronicle, when I found a post with this title: "The forecast for Houston, a century hence."
You see, Berger has gone and done a big story about how global warming will affect Houston--and what Houstonians can…
October 9, 2007
Disclaimer: This series of posts is not an endorsement of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. Rather, we are paying attention to Hillary because she has gone farther than any other candidate thus far in injecting science policy issues into the presidential race--and promising, if elected, to…
October 9, 2007
I'm planning one or more additional Hillary posts today...as, I believe, is Sheril...but first, some updates.
As I mentioned yesterday, my Seed cover story, entitled "Dr. President"--or, on the cover, "Can Science Save the American Dream?"--is now up. This is an unapologetically idealistic…