gregladen | September 2, 2008Of course, I agree with Barack Obama as well as my colleagues on scienceblogs that people's families should be off limits in campaigns. Thus, discussion of Sarah Palin's unwed young daughter getting knocked up out of wedlock is totally irrelevant. As PZ puts it, we should instead focus on Sarah Palin's utter disregard for individual liberties and basic human rights and stuff like that.
I also believe that it is in appropriate for religious leaders to capitalize on disasters by claiming that their particular version of Gawd Almighty is busy smiting gay people, uppity women, or whatever.…
gregladen | September 1, 2008Natalie has sent me a link to a great photo. I'd love to put it up on the blog, but rights are reserved and I spent my allocated two minutes looking for a way to get permission and failed. So I'll just give you the link. Worth a look.
gregladen | September 1, 2008This gives a reasonable idea of what it is like to get tear gassed:
Why is this important? Remember this:
In my view, which may not be popular, when the Ohio National Guard shot dead four kids, at least one of which was, by the way, a passer-by unrelated to the demonstration, and all of whom were running away, you, me, the Saint Paul Police, the Republicans, and everybody else in this country lost the right to get indignant about a few anarchists breaking a window at Macy's or roughing up a Fox News Van. Anybody got a problem with that?
gregladen | September 1, 2008 Anarchists, clashing. Macy's, St. Paul Police, and Fox News suffered attacks by anarchists wearing clothing that did not match, facial scarves, and silly goggles. There were at least two different fronts to this attack, one along the designated protesters parade route, where the anarchists broke a large window at Macy's, and another in a nearby neighborhood, where anarchists attempted to stop buses coming into the security area. In the latter case, horse mounted police used rubber bullets and pepper spray, and at least one anarchist was kicked in the head by a horse. Which is kinda…
gregladen | September 1, 2008Tropical Depression Ike has just recently been upgraded by Dan Abrams of MSNBC to Hurricane Ike, but I think that may be premature. Gustav is still a hurricane (barely) and Hanna is a Hurricane, so if Ike does make the grade very soon, that would mean that there are three simultaneous hurricanes all likely with US landfalls extant at the same time.
Most likely, Ike will be a hurricane by sometime past Wednesday AM.
There is a fourth system that is not yet named just forming off the West African coast, but that seems reasonably likely to gain hurricane status eventually. Have a look:…
gregladen | September 1, 2008Well, yes, it is too early to say good by to Gustav. Gustav is still a hurricane and is still affecting the Louisiana coast. The worst that can happen may still be in the future for this storm, depending on the effects of rain over the next 72 hours. It does not seem as though any major levees are going to break, but nothing can be certain yet.
Hello Hurricane Hanna
One thing that MIGHT be certain, and I truly hope it is:
It was predicted that Gustav could hit the coast as a Category Four storm, possibly in just the right place to do serious damage to New Orleans. But it did not.
In the…
gregladen | September 1, 2008 Storm World: Hurricanes, Politics, and the Battle Over Global Warming I've been putting off posting my review of this book until just the right moment. Perhaps that moment is now, with the juxtaposition of a serious storm ... hurricane Gustav ... arriving in the vicinity of New Orleans and the opening day of the Republican National Convention, since both charismatic hurricanes and not so charismatic politicians play such a large role in the book at hand.
Storm World: Hurricanes, Politics, and the Battle Over Global Warming, by Chris Mooney, is a well written, informative, captivating,…
gregladen | August 31, 2008This is a rough sketch of the actual path of the eye of hurricane Katrina compared to the current projected path of the eye of hurricane Gustav.
Now, this is NOT Gustav's actual path. We don't know what the path is going to be. But this graphic allows for a few key points to be made.
First, realize that in the counter-clockwise spinning hurricane, the right hand side, and in particular, the 'front right" quadrant, of the storm is where the winds are strongest ... because we need to add together both the forward motion of the storm, maybe between 10 and 15 mph at landfall in this case, with…
gregladen | August 31, 2008A new species of giant clam has been discovered in the Red Sea.
Fossils suggest that, about 125,000 years ago, the species Tridacna costata accounted for more than 80% of the area's giant clams.
The species may now be critically endangered, researchers report in Current Biology journal.
BBC
gregladen | August 31, 2008Over the source of several hours before the announcement by John McCain that Sarah Palin was to be his running mate, Palin's Wikipedia entry was heavily edited. The editors included individuals who were simultaneously updating McCain's Wikipedia entry. Apparently, similar activities associated with Biden's selection occurred as well. So, in other words, if you want to know what is going to happen just watch the Wiki.
This is all reported in the Washington Post and discussed on NPR.
gregladen | August 31, 2008There has been enough change in the predictions regarding Gustav to make it worth a fresh look. Bottom line: It is weaker than previously predicted, it is still almost exactly on the same track, and it may be speeding up a little bit. Tropical Storm and soon after hurricane force winds may strike the Northern Gulf Coast by 2:00 or so Monday Morning (or even sooner), certainly during the night tonight. The eye may cross the coast about mid day Monday (tomorrow). The center of the predicted path is just far enough west of New Orleans proper to worry a lot about the storm surge.
Details:
1…
gregladen | August 30, 2008Gustav's eye has passed over western Cuba, and remained a category four hurricane the entire time. One gust in Cuba, where Gustav mainly affected the tobacco growing region, as clocked at 204 miles per hour. Miles. Not kilometers. The storm has caused considerable damage there (source).
Here is the salient information regarding the current forecast:
1) Confidence about Gustav's path has increased and the following may, while it should be read with the usual caveats as to error, is thought to be more accurate than typical.
2) The intensity estimate has much less certainty. There are…
gregladen | August 30, 2008Razib has noted that there is a 15% chance that if McCain/Palin is elected, that Palin will take office based on actuarial data. However, I beg to differ with this given that the presidency is a) known to add years to a person's life, b) is a somewhat more dangerous job than average (there are 43 presidents, and four were killed in office, making this one of the most dangerous jobs in America) and c) we might as well consider other ways that a president can leave office, because that happens sometimes.
Of the last eight presidents that are also dead, half were dead before reaching McCain's…
gregladen | August 30, 2008
Sarah Palin comes in at 4 minutes 20 seconds. Turns out she wants all the Polar Bear to die.
gregladen | August 30, 2008In November, 2007, a small group of six citizens - two screenwriters, a physicist, a marine biologist, a philosopher and a science journalist - began working to restore science and innovation to America's political dialogue. They called themselves Science Debate 2008, and they called for a presidential debate on science. The call tapped a wellspring of concern over the state of American science.
Apparently Obama is in. See this and this.
gregladen | August 30, 2008The following announcement regarding Sarah Palin is from Move On Dot Org. This is about McCain's running mate.
Obviously, in my earlier post I was too quick to judge this woman. It turns out that she is not a bad choice, not a person with less than ideal experience, not a person unsympathetic to liberal ideal.
No. It turns out that Sarah Palin is the WORST CHOICE POSSIBLE, she is UTTERLY INEXPERIENCED and has some potential ethical issues. It turns out that McCain and she spoke TWICE (at most) about this position! It turns out that she stands AGAINST every liberal ideal that ever…
gregladen | August 30, 2008This may be premature by an hour or two, and if so, I'll update again, but there is enough new information on Gustav to provide an update.
Gustav is now a Category Four Hurricane and is bearing down on Cuba. The hurricane will strike the northern Gulf coast as a serious, possibly major storm. I have heard from contacts in industry in the region that the presumption of a major hurricane is in effect and the shipping industry and other industries are in the process of shutting down. There are also news reports that I have not checked that LA Parishes in the vicinity are under mandatory…
gregladen | August 29, 2008According to the BBC, John McCain has picked Alaskan Sarah Palin for VEEP.
...John McCain has picked Sarah Palin, the female governor of Alaska, as his surprise ... mate.
...
"She's exactly who I need .. to help me .. turn ... old ... head."
Thanking Mr McCain, Ms Palin said she would be honoured to serve ... him.
She introduced her ... husband ... saying:
"My husband... is now ... up in the oil fields up on Alaska's north slope...."
...
The Obama campaign suggested Mr McCain's choice was irresponsible, referring to Ms Palin's former role as mayor of the small Alaskan town of Wasilla…