March 29, 2017
Scientists are now being subjected to unbridled McCarthyism.
Eventually the transcript will be available, but for now you'll have to just trust me on this. Congressman Clay Higgins, Republican on Lamar Smith's alt-Science committee, demanded today to know if climate scientist Michael Mann (author…
March 29, 2017
A few items that I think you should see:
Trump’s executive order puts the world on the road to climate catastrophe
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump issued a sweeping executive order that effectively guts national efforts to address climate change. If he isn’t stopped, the endpoint of this…
March 29, 2017
Congressman Lamar Smith is a well known science denier, especially a climate science denier.
Recently, he admitted that the House committee he runs is a tool of the anti-science forces.
At a recent conference at the pro-Tobacco anti-Science Koch (and others) funded fake think tank Heartland, this…
March 28, 2017
Arduino Playground: Geeky Projects for the Experienced Maker is not for the faint of heart. Unless the faint of heart person plans to build a pacemaker with an arduino!
Most books about making electronic projects, including and especially Raspberry Pi or Arduino projects, have a bit up front about…
March 28, 2017
I want to tell you about what may be the most important research result in the area of climate change in recent years. First, a little background.
We know from paleoclimate studies that the Earth's climate system changes from time to time enough to leave a mark. For example, it is widely thought…
March 28, 2017
Sometimes, when I look at the things the Republicans and their leader, Donald Trump, are doing, I think of that poignant line in so many actual and fictional moments: "You have killed me."
Someone says that because the killing is done, but they are not yet dead. The knife is driven deep, the car…
March 24, 2017
The Neotropical Companion by John Kricher came out years ago, in the late 80s if I recall correctly. I've got a copy of it around somewhere.
I loved that book because it did a great job integrating all the things in one place: animals, plants, habitats, evolution, etc. Even though I was working…
March 24, 2017
In real estate.
I'm not an expert on this but I've seen the sausage being made a few times. Individuals with investment money, commercial businesses that might use new space, other possible tenants, maybe or maybe not some designers or builders, municipal or other government stakeholders,…
March 24, 2017
You all know about this: It is being said that the OK sign is used to indicated "White Power" and this use has been spotted among politicians and celebrities everywhere. Is this real? I don't know. Is it a valid symbol for "White Power"? Certainly not.
The problem with the white power symbol is…
March 23, 2017
Media Matters has an amazing and rather depressing report out on the way broadcast media in the US covered climate change.
I'm going to give you a handful of bullet points that reflect only some of the results of this detailed study, then you go read it.
Bottom line: Coverage in 2016 was a…
March 23, 2017
Everyone knows that you never say the name "Voldemort" because it gives him power.
Like this:
And perhaps for this reason, many non-deplorables wish to avoid using the name of Trump.
I can understand their position, and I respect their point of view.
Having said that, they are totally wrong, of…
March 22, 2017
And, can we hear the tapes please, before they get Wooded?
March 21, 2017
As I've pointed out before, New Yorkers have been dealing with Donald Trump for a very long time. Chris Hayes, on All In, came up with some great examples, the last one of which is ... well, just watch:
March 19, 2017
Monarchs and Milkweed: A Migrating Butterfly, a Poisonous Plant, and Their Remarkable Story of Coevolution by Anurag Agrawal is a fantastic, readable, scientifically rich, detailed monograph about – you guessed it – the monarch butterfly and the milkweed plant.
The monarch butterfly begins a…
March 19, 2017
Some of you may know David Weinlick, especially if you are active in politics in the Twin Cities, or associated with the University of Minnesota. He is well known around these parts for his political activism and important role in the DFL (that’s how Minnesotans spell “Democratic Party”). He was…
March 16, 2017
The fun raising letter that's gone around asks for 10 bucks to "enter to win." But, of course, it is legally required that any such contest not require a payment, so you can enter for free!
But hurry, the contest ends in just a matter of hours! SPREAD THE WORD!
Here's how:
...you may enter…
March 16, 2017
Darwin's Unfinished Symphony: How Culture Made the Human Mind is a new book on cultural evolution in humans from a biological perspective.
This is an interesting book and a good book, and I recommend it, but I need to add a strong caveat. The author could have made a more compelling argument had…
March 15, 2017
The earliest life must have been something like a small single celled organism, like a bacterium. Or at least, the earliest life that we can usefully conceive of, and potentially connect with living life. It has been suggested that life could have initially evolved at the site of submarine…
March 15, 2017
Rob Honeycutt is famous for his many contributions, at Skeptical Science, in the comment threats on my blog, and elsewhere, in defense of climate science, where that defense is largely against the deniers of science and damagers of civilization. (He is also the guy who makes these famous messenger…
March 15, 2017
A potpourri of miscellany:
Human Caused Climate Change and the Oceans
It is great to see our local political non-print non-TV news agency, MNPost, covering an important climate change story with local connections. I'll be writing John Abraham's research up myself shortly.
An intriguing and…
March 15, 2017
Mark Steyn is well known to readers of this blog as the intentionally obnoxious Canadian version of Rush Limbaugh who is being sued by our friend and colleague Michael Mann, author of the recent "The Madhouse Effect: How Climate Change Denial Is Threatening Our Planet, Destroying Our Politics, and…
March 13, 2017
The Key for the above graphic:
Donald Trump's FEMA is not ready for this storm. The entire federal government is understaffed, and there are funding problems, and this applies to FEMA as well.
So, if you are anywhere in the area to be affected by this storm (the weather channel calls it Stella, I…
March 13, 2017
I had a bunch of quarters in my pocket. About six dollars worth, along with a couple of one dollar coins.
I pulled all the change out of my pocket and placed it on a desktop. I walked away.
A few minutes later, I went to grab the coins so I could bring them to my office and toss them in the coin…
March 10, 2017
If most of the electricity used to charge your electric car is made by burning coal, is it still worth it, in terms of CO2 release, to buy an electric car?
Yes. And you will also save money on fuel.
Don't believe me? Want me to show you? What, are you from Missouri or something? Fine. I'll show…
March 9, 2017
From the early days of Trump:
Trump: The response to my candidacy out here [in Los Angeles] has been incredible! Off the charts! The polls are unbelievable! Everybody loves me here -- loves me! My hotel phone is ringing off the hoo from major actresses! Major!
Question shouted from the audience:…
March 9, 2017
Just got my copy of Birds of Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East: A Photographic Guide by Frédéric Jiguet and Aurélien Audevard.
This is the first and only field-ready photographic bird guide that covers every species in Europe. There are 2,200 photos covering 860 species. The West Asian…
March 9, 2017
Scott Adams is the creator of Dilbert, the once funny but now highly repetitive cartoon about a nerd who has a job in an office.
Dr. Gavin Schmidt is high up in the top ten list of world class climate scientists. He is Director of the currently under siege GISS Unit of NASA, where much of the…
March 9, 2017
In Health Care Insurance Reform We See The History of the Republican Party
Very few American policy initiatives have been as popular as Obamacare. The fact that several years of Republican opposition to the Affordable Care Act did not result in any alternative policies or specific revisions to the…
March 8, 2017
There is some interesting new research out on the Asian Fruit Fly, Drosophila suzukii.
The short version: This sort of fruit fly ruins fruit crops because it prefers to, and is able to, lay its eggs on harder, firmer, unrotten, and, essentially, ripe fruit, thus ruining it. Regular fruit flies…
March 8, 2017
It is now verified that the earliest 2017 tornados -- first tornados of the season -- struck several communities in east-central Minnesota (a few miles north and south of me). So what you say? Especially because it was a mere F1 and didn't hurt anyone!
This is an important event because the…
