January 4, 2015
The following is a letter from John Irving, posted originally on his Facebook page and reprinted here as a guest post:
NOTE: JOHN NOW HAS HIS OWN WEB SITE AND HAS POSTED HIS LETTER THERE. So do note that there are comments, including by John, below, but also go and visit his site!
John Irving…
January 1, 2015
I was a citizen of New York when Mario Cuomo became governor. I've written before about the ethnic angle of that event, how Cuomo, who was Italian, was the highest ranking ethnic Italian in New York, Italian immigrants still being repressed and seen as lesser folk by many even at that late date.…
January 1, 2015
People, usually people of color, more often than not Native Americans and African Americans (according the the available statistics) suffer regular repression by the police. Day to day, the most common form of repression is about the small stuff. Jay walking, being out after curfew, walking…
December 22, 2014
With what may be the warmest year in centuries about to close, I thought it would be fun to have a graphic comparing the march of global average temperature over several years about a century ago with the present state of affairs. This graphic is based on NASA's data, using John Abraham's estimate…
December 22, 2014
Joe Cocker is (was?) one of my favorite musical artists. Having said that I quickly add that while his work is well represented on my list of favorites, I also really don't like a bunch of his other work. But the stuff that's good is great.
He died today at the age of 70.
One of the best "albums…
December 20, 2014
Enough! That's Peter Doran's opinion on the "debate" about a scientific consensus on climate change. There clearly is one -- a strong one. So why do the public and the politicians think otherwise? Why the big disconnect between what the vast majority of scientists know to be fact, and what the…
December 19, 2014
My friend Paul was on the Ed Show. A few classic lines:
December 17, 2014
A new study has recently been published that looks at the ecology of bristlecone pine growth at Sheep Mountain, and the tree ring signal those trees produce, at high altitudes in the Southwestern US. This is important because tree rings are an often used proxyindicator for reconstructing past…
December 17, 2014
In early December I wrote a post called "2014 will not be the warmest year on record, but global warming is still real." The very first thing I said in that post is that I was going out on a limb. I also discussed whether or not one year mattered, and I discussed the nature of the phrase "X is…
December 15, 2014
Are you done with your Thanksgiving leftovers yet? You might think so, but not quite. We have one more helping of Turkey for you.
This is "Another Helping of Turkey," the second of two installments of Eat This Podcast with Jeremy Cherfas:
The domestication of the turkey probably first took place…
December 14, 2014
ADDED NOTE: I changed the name of this post because some chose to shift the focus of the discussion from Greenpeace's horrendous act in Peru to whether or not my reaction is appropriate, as though I had done damage to some historic site or harpooned a whale. I live in Minnesota. I am not affected…
December 11, 2014
This one is worth looking at because it was published as a letter to the editor in an actual newspaper. Or, at least, on the web site.
A little background is in order. First, Dennis Slonka wrote an Op Ed in the Providence Journal telling us that "Climate Science Will Never Be Settled." In it he…
December 10, 2014
Matt Ridley is a British journalist whom some in the science community are now quietly referring to as an “anti-science writer.” He has taken up the cause of denying the widely held and deep scientific consensus on climate change. He has a recent blog post he seems to have been compelled to write…
December 5, 2014
Watch the Orion test flight:
Splashdown:
Why is it great? Well, speaking as a Gemini (not my horoscope sign, but the space program going when I first gained sentience) ...
First, it is big, fast, cool looking. It actually looks like a rocket that might have been designed a decade before they…
December 5, 2014
The outer reaches of Typhoon Hagupit are already affecting the target region in the Philippines. Hundreds of thousands of people have fled the areas most under the gun, but the potential for serious problems covers a very large area. The storm has gone through quite a few changes over the last…
December 4, 2014
Super Typhoon Hagupit is on its way to the Philippines. The image above shows the storm track for Typhoon Haiyan, which was a very damaging super Typhoon that came through the same area last year, and served as an example of climate change making things worse. The smaller map is the Japan…
December 4, 2014
The Road to Paris is a web site created by the ICSU, "...a non-governmental organization representing a global membership that includes both national scientific bodies (121 National Members representing 141 countries) and International Scientific Unions (30 Members)," founded in 1931. If the ICSU…
December 3, 2014
I'm going out on a limb here. 2014 has been a very warm year. We've had a number of record setting months. But, a couple of months were also coolish, and November was one of them. December started out cool (like November ended) globally, but actually over the last few days the global average…
December 3, 2014
Apotropaic magic is designed to ward off or control evil. In vampire fiction, as well as in real life in cultures that include a belief in vampires, apotropaic objects might be crucifixes, cloves of garlic, etc. Apotropaic methods are known to have been used in burials. In the photograph above,…
December 2, 2014
Some interesting new research. The paper is, unfortunately, behind a paywall but they made a video, so it is worth posting.
Here's the press release for the paper:
Scientists know that temperature determines sex in certain reptiles—alligators, lizards, turtles, and possibly dinosaurs. In many…
December 2, 2014
"As Thanksgiving ebbs into memory and Christmas looms on the horizon, Eat This Podcast concerns itself with the turkey. For a nomenclature nerd, the turkey is a wonderful bird. Why would a bird from America be named after a country on the edge of Asia? The Latin name offers a clue; the American…
November 30, 2014
Let me introduce you to Itzcuauhtli. Watch this:
More here.
November 28, 2014
It is here:
I wonder if we get one trailer a month for a year?
And then, this:
November 27, 2014
You know Thanksgiving has a story, linking it to the Pilgrims. I talk about the bigger cultural phenomenon here. But have you actually read the original story? There is a later version with more detail but this is the only nearly contemporary account:
You shall understand, that in this little…
November 27, 2014
An interview with an expert on Turkey (me, apparently) about turkeys. What do I mean by "turkey"? The bird, the country, the personality trait? Well, that is the point, isn't it!
Click here to get the skinny on turkey.
November 26, 2014
The literary thriller "Sins of Our Fathers" by Shawn Otto was release just a few days ago. I interviewed Shawn on Atheist Talk Radio last Sunday morning while you were at church. It is a great book and a pretty good interview. The book is about Anglo-Native relationships, gambling, banking, race…
November 26, 2014
These are important questions, though I must say it is a little late for you to be asking considering that Thanksgiving is right around the corner!
Thanksgiving is a feast, and feasting is something humans do in many cultures (but not all, probably). A while back I wrote a piece of feasting that…
November 25, 2014
Watch as documentary filmmaker Vanessa Black visits the Gulf of Mexico to learn more about Big Oil.
