cmooney
Posts by this author
April 8, 2007
Okay, I know this has nothing to do with science. But I'm in the mood to promote my kid brother. I'm sure you can understand.
I've just created Davy Mooney TV, using Searchles and combining together my brother's three existing YouTube Videos of live performances. Check it out:
April 8, 2007
My brother Davy, a talented young jazz guitarist, is the subject of a lengthy profile in today's edition of the New Orleans Times Picayune. The occasion? He got through a grueling competition and so became the first of seven students admitted into the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance'…
April 8, 2007
PZ Myers says he likes the concept framing "less and less." He wants to know why we're beating up on scientists, when there's so much wrong with the media and the public in terms of how they approach and use scientific information.
I just posted a long reply to his blog, and will reproduce it…
April 7, 2007
Our piece in Science has prompted many responses; my colleague Matt Nisbet has a pretty comprehensive rundown of what we'd heard as of yesterday, with some inline replies. Of course, a lot more has cropped up since then, including from Bora, James Hrynyshyn, and Mike the Mad Biologist, among…
April 6, 2007
I've had a very illuminating time here in New Orleans at the National Hurricane Conference, but now it's off to California for this event tomorrow:
Saturday, April 7, 7:00 PM-8:30 PM
California State University Channel Islands
Aliso Hall Auditorium
Camarillo, CA
* Public Lecture sponsored by the…
April 6, 2007
Today I asked Randy Olson, the documentarian behind the wonderful Flock of Dodos, what he thought of the recent article by Matt Nisbet and myself in Science. I did this because along with my conversations with Matt, watching Olson's Flock of Dodos was one of the catalytic events that got me…
April 6, 2007
The responses are rolling in to our Science piece. At least as I write this, particularly thoughtful and in-depth ones have come from PZ Myers, Carl Zimmer, Alan Boyle, and Mike Dunford, among others. There have also been some more dismissive responses, which appear to miss our distinction…
April 5, 2007
As a journalist who reports frequently on science, I never expected to be publishing in the literature. But tomorrow I will actually have a paper in the Policy Forum section of the latest issue of Science (April 6). To be sure, this wouldn't have come about if I hadn't had a co-author who's a real…
April 4, 2007
[Image courtesy of Meteo-France (click for full-size version) showing the tracks of tropical cyclones in the South Indian ocean during the 2006-2007 season. Note that cyclones 3 (Bondo), 5 (Clovis), 12 (Indlala), and 14 (Jaya) made direct landfalls in Madagascar. Cyclones 9 (Favio) and 10 (Gamede…
April 3, 2007
My latest blog entry at the Huffington Post is up: It's a reflection on the latest forecasts suggesting that, indeed, we're going to have a rough Atlantic hurricane season this year.
April 3, 2007
My apologies about the lack of blogging--I've been running around New Orleans, and it's been hard to get online.
I hope to post more soon, but in the meantime, a brief announcement: I'll be appearing on EarthBeat Radio later this morning--10:20 ET--and you can listen to the webcast at the WPFW site…
April 1, 2007
Yet another of these perennial data issues has come up with the latest tropical cyclone, Jaya, which is currently tracking mercilessly towards Madagascar. (As if they need another storm this season.) As is obvious from the image below, the storm has weakened considerably in comparison with how…
March 31, 2007
Poor Madagascar. Another intense cyclone--Jaya--is heading in its direction. This storm, which just three days ago I was predicting would develop, has now intensified much faster than expected. According to the University of Wisconsin folks, it's already a Category 3 storm, with winds of 104 knots…
March 30, 2007
It's probably a bit late for this notification, but I'm giving a public talk tomorrow:
Washington, DC
Lecture at "Restoring Scientific Integrity" Conference
Saturday, March 31
10:00 AM-12:00 PM
Center for Inquiry D.C.
621 Pennsylvania Ave., S.E.
$ 10.00, RSVP required
Washington, DC 20003
(202) 546…
March 30, 2007
So says Roger Pielke, Jr., in a very illuminating post. He also adds: "On the very hot-button issues of climate change and the teaching of evolution, Republican political agendas require confronting current scientific consensus."
I agree entirely--indeed, that's the whole point of The Republican…
March 30, 2007
I'm particularly proud of this currently unnamed tropical cyclone, as I successfully predicted its development. Don't worry, I won't get cocky. Beginner's luck.
UPDATE: The storm now has a name, Jaya...
March 29, 2007
I don't usually announce things like this. But I just noticed that Amazon.com has started selling my first book in hardback for $ 6.99. It was originally $ 24.95. So if you ever wanted a copy but didn't get one, now is probably the time.
To be sure, the paperback version of the book contains…
March 29, 2007
During the new Congress so far, we've seen multiple investigations related to the (mis)treatment of climate science by the Bush administration. These, I'm sure, will be ongoing. But as I've frequently said in public talks, perhaps the most pervasive abuses have occured on local endangered species…
March 28, 2007
I'm not a meteorologist. I haven't done an analysis of vertical wind shear, sea surface temperatures, or anything else. Moreover, even the best forecasters have a tough time determining when a severe hurricane will grow out of a more ordinary disturbance.
But all of that said, doesn't it look like…
March 28, 2007
Well, as usual, there's much to say about the latest House hearing on political interferences with climate science. Beforehand, I had the honor of meeting Rep. Brad Miller, who's been a pioneer on this issue. For me, that was probably the highlight of the hearing. Miller was a nice, very personable…
March 28, 2007
This year, after being increasingly frustrated with poor or inaccessible records of past hurricanes (in basins other than the Atlantic and East Pacific, anyway), I started keeping my own records. And so I have noted every Joint Typhoon Warning Center advisory this year (er, almost). And in the…
March 28, 2007
Later today I'll be heading to the Hill--but probably not blogging til I return. This afternoon action shifts to the House Committee on Science and Technology, and more specifically, to the Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight. The chair, Rep. Brad Miller of North Carolina, has been a…
March 27, 2007
My last Huffington Post entry, about why many Republicans reject mainstream climate science, now has 125 comments. That's gotta be a personal best for me as a blogger. Of course, a lot of it has to do with the fact that there are global warming "skeptics" over there who post comments and tick…
March 27, 2007
The South Pacific island chain of Vanuatu is a kind of canary in the coalmine for global warming. A settlement on Vanuatu's Tegua Island has already had to be relocated due to sea level rise. (See also here.) The problem was that with ever rising seas, low lying islands--and those living there--are…
March 27, 2007
My column from the latest issue of Seed just went up. It's a rather ambitious one, laying out a five step plan for restoring scientific integrity in Washington, D.C. You can read the piece to see all of the steps that I propose, but so far, it's clear that Congressional Democrats are excelling at…
March 26, 2007
My latest Huffington Post entry is up; it's an attempt to add to the ongoing dialogue about why so many in the GOP are still in denial about global warming.
March 26, 2007
Matt Nisbet has some heartening news: A science communication bill has been introduced in Congress, one that would fund the National Science Foundation to invest in training scientists to become better communicators. Committee chair Bart Gordon and Rep. Doris O. Matsui get the credit. This is a…
March 26, 2007
I'm a worst-case scenario kind of thinker. My May 2005 article about the destruction of New Orleans by a Category 5 hurricane--an article published about 100 days before Katrina--certainly demonstrated as much. I think it's rational to worry about extreme scenarios in direct proportion to how bad…
March 23, 2007
Last weekend here in D.C., I could be found hanging out at Toledo Lounge with fellow science bloggers (left to right) Evil Monkey of Neurotopia, Tara of Aetiology, and Orac of Respectful Insolence. I guess I was too drunk to notice that thing he was wearing on his head. (Just kidding.) Anyway, here…
March 23, 2007
My apologizes for not writing yesterday...I was working hard on a big blog entry which I finally got up at HuffingtonPost. I felt there was a need to clarify my views on Al Gore's scientific accuracy--especially with respect to hurricanes--and I've taken the occasion of Gore's recent testimony to…