June 26, 2013
From Mercury News:
In a ruling that assures further legal battles, the high court found that backers of Proposition 8 did not have the legal right to defend the voter-approved gay marriage ban in place of the governor and attorney general, who have refused to press appeals of a federal judge's…
June 26, 2013
The Supreme Court of the United States has truck down the so-called "Defense of Marriage Act" as unconstitutional. It was a 5-4 decision. A ruling on California Prop 8 is expected soon.
From NPR:
Section 3 of the law defines marriage as "a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and…
June 25, 2013
The video below has meteorologist Paul Douglas talking about the big storm we had in the Twin Cities a few days ago (from his excellent series of climate change and weather related videos). The storm actually followed on a number of days with a fair amount of rain, and up here in the northern part…
June 25, 2013
And this is not a very big if, I think. I've only just learned of this, and don't have details and have not thought about it much but you need to know: It is said that President Obama will nix the Keystone XL Pipeline in the event that the State Department's study can not prove that it will not…
June 25, 2013
The following is a statement from India Climate Justice
We cannot ignore the climate crisis anymore!
25 June 2013
The India Climate Justice collective notes with deep anguish the devastating loss of life, livelihoods, and homes in Uttarakhand and beyond. The death toll is likely in the thousands,…
June 24, 2013
A few climate change related items I know you will be interested in, especially since you will want to be very current for the big event Tuesday.
There is now a new profession: Extreme Weather Architect. (Hat tip: Paul Douglas)
You may hear again and again that climate change is over, that warming…
June 23, 2013
On Tuesday, President Obama will make a speech outlining his administration’s plans to address climate change. The Right Wing has already responded by calling those concerned with climate change “Terrorists.” How have the progressive and left wings responded? Badly. Very badly. Here is a selection…
June 22, 2013
On Tuesday, just after 1:30 PM Eastern Time, at Georgetown University, President Barack Obama will announce a vision for future steps to address and prepare for ongoing and future climate change. Below is a video teaser for the address, but first, this is what is likely to be in the plan:
New EPA…
June 21, 2013
Kickstarter has said this, about this:
Dear everybody,
On Wednesday morning Kickstarter was sent a blog post quoting disturbing material found on Reddit. The offensive material was part of a draft for a “seduction guide” that someone was using Kickstarter to publish. The posts offended a lot of…
June 21, 2013
Humanity truly sucks and I can prove it. One word: Reddit.
UPDATE: ONLY PART OF HUMANITY SUCKS SEE THIS NEWS
OK, you may want some background.
A Reddit Regular, perhaps a Reddit celeb (or at least he is now) wants to write a book on how guys seduce women, and he's asking for money on Kickstarter…
June 20, 2013
Here we have a nice new infographic for you to gaze at, share around on your facebook accounts, and so on. (It is below.) Here in Minnesota, we've got a problem getting that last one million acres of corn planted (about 1/8th of the normal amount), not because of drought, but because of excessive…
June 20, 2013
Two related things came across my desk this morning that should concern anyone who sees climate change as an important issue.
In Germany, the roads are buckling and breaking because of excessive heat, and there seems to be inadequate funding to re-engineer them. Here's a photograph from Spiegel…
June 20, 2013
A letter signed by (so far) 145 former Obama campaign staff calls on President Obama to reject the Keystone XL pipeline. There is no doubt that President Obama's action on climate change will be a large part of his legacy, and at this point, President Obama's position on Keystone XL is unclear. It…
June 19, 2013
Let me 'splain.
If you want to know exactly where your dog is, you could put at GPS sensor in the middle of it's body, perhaps near the pancreas. It would give you an average position for your dog, and would be most accurate most of the time.
If you put the GPS sensor on the tip of the dog's tail…
June 19, 2013
CONvergence is the world's largest fan run science fiction and fantasy convention held in Bloomington, MN on or around July 4th every year. An informal subset of the activities that occur at this huge gathering of people wearing costumes and stuff is a set of panels organized by Skepchick,…
June 19, 2013
Science is good at seeing things that you can’t really see. For example, science can provide an accurate three dimensional model of a critically important molecule even though no one has ever directly seen what this molecule looks like. That three dimensional model of the molecule can be used to…
June 19, 2013
... or Climate Noobs Bork Climate-science?
... or Can't News Be Correct?
(add your own below)
The thing is, CNBC, which is supposed to be a news station, is fueling public misunderstanding of climate science. This is bad journalism, and virtually criminal given the importance of climate change and…
June 18, 2013
Intel ISEF finalist Evie Sobczak creates viable algae biofuel without using chemicals in processing.
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Photo of Science Fair Credit: RinzeWind via Compfight cc
June 18, 2013
NOTE: I've rewritten this post and redone the graphic. The original map on which I based the reconstruction, provided by the USGS, is distinctly different than the one the USGS provides today. The difference is, in fact, rather dramatic. In comparing the older and newer versions of the maps, I…
June 18, 2013
Amazon has sent a letter to all of its associates based in Minnesota. All Minnesota based associates are being thrown out of the Amazon Associates program as of July 1st. This is because the State of Minnesota passed a bill that Amazon does not like. Amazon may well have a good reason to not like…
June 16, 2013
Yesterday, Minneapolis had a convention pursuant to the process of electing a new Mayor. Also, sausages were made. I dare you to look: An Outsider’s View of the DFL Minneapolis Mayoral Convention
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Photo Credit: Sri Dhanush via Compfight cc
June 13, 2013
Let's look at the evidence ...
Hmmmmm....
Hat Tip: Aviva Shen
June 13, 2013
High temperatures and dry conditions have caused the outbreak, increased intensity, and rapid spread of numerous wildfires in Colorado. Again. Fires happen, but the number, size, and intensity of wildfires in the western United States has been very high in recent years, and this is caused by…
June 13, 2013
No. Not if it is natural.
In a decision that could have broad-reaching effects on the future of science and medicine, the Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that:
— "A naturally occurring DNA segment is a product of nature and not patent eligible merely because it has been isolated."
— But,…
June 12, 2013
This is a long but excellent presentation of The Climate Desk, originally posted HERE where there is a blog post by Chris Mooney giving more details.
climatenexus on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free
A recent post of mine on the topic is HERE.
June 12, 2013
This is what came across my desk this morning. A bit more activity than usual, but not by much. Enjoy. Or, rather, Be Afraid.
Congressman Demands Obama Apologize To Oklahoma For Investing In Climate Change Research
Just as extreme weather season kicks off, freshman Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-OK)…
June 12, 2013
Obviously, you don't want to help melt the ice cap. But you can help scientists figure out how and why it is happening and to learn important details of what might be one of the most important effects of global warming happening right now.
First, a word on why this is important. Look out the…
June 11, 2013
Bob Alberti is a friend of mine in Minneapolis (actually, he was even my student for a few weeks). I was rather startled to see is very scary face staring at me from the Internet this morning (see above). All I can say, is if you run into this guy, watch out! His snark is very, very sharp.
From…
June 10, 2013
I hope it is very very good because if not the fact that it looks exactly like a trash can I just bought at Target could make it a laughing stock.
It is assembled in the USA. That's a good start!
Here's a question for the true geeks: What prior RAM had the same speed as the fastest flash/hard…
June 9, 2013
I've noticed a lot of Internet chatter about the Mantis Shrimp lately, and I don't know what that is about. But it could be this:
How would you design an experiment to test each of the hypotheses suggested here?
(Also, I note that I do not endorse the contents of this video. Spiffy music and a…
