gregladen | July 11, 2013Holy moly:
This is in reference to this.
Clearly, someone is gonna get fired. But enjoy it for now.
There is a full report on this amazing event (Fox News getting something mostly right, not the super storms) by Shuana Theel, here.
VL Baker has more here.
gregladen | July 11, 2013Run is a short movie being made here in the Twin Cities by up and coming film maker Josh Mruz. I know about it because a friend of mine is in the film. It is about "a young woman getting chased by her past, hurdling through new obstacles, and recollecting the jumbled elements of her situation." I've tried to trick them into telling me what exactly she is running from but I'm told this would spoil the film. However, when I suggested it might be dinosaurs, NOBODY SAID NO!
Anyway, I'm showing this to you because I want you to give them ten dollars (or more!) to help with this new film. If…
gregladen | July 11, 2013The US Department of Energy has released a report about vulnerabilities of the US Power system in relation to climate change.
The report, nicely summarized in this piece at the New York Times, does not merely cover outages caused by storms. Rather, it discusses the vulnerability of the entire power system to alterations in our weather caused by anthropogenic climate change.
Increasing temperatures, decreasing water availability, more intense storm events, and sea level rise will each independently, and in some cases in combination, affect the ability of the United States to produce and…
gregladen | July 10, 2013A talk by Sheril Kirshenbaum, Director of The Energy Poll at The University of Texas at Austin, in four parts:
Part I:
Part II:
Part III:
Part IV:
gregladen | July 10, 2013The Pine Island Glacier, in West Antarctica, drains (as ice and water) a measurable percent of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. It is probably the case that glaciers in this area of the Antarctic contribute more of the ice to water transition than any other glacial region in the world, so how they melt is of great interest. And now, Pine Island Glacier has given birth!
In October 2011 a large crack started to form across the glacier, downstream from its grounding line. Over the last few days, it seems, this crack finally transected the entire glacier, causing the down-stream side of it to…
gregladen | July 10, 2013Nasa Earth Observatory has a photograph of the recent derailment of a train of Bakken Crude burning and/or exploding in a small town in Quebec.
The image "was acquired at 6:59 GMT (2:59 a.m. local time) on July 6 by the instrument’s “day-night band,” which detects light in a range of wavelengths from green to near-infrared and uses filtering techniques to observe signals such as city lights, auroras, fires, and reflected moonlight. The image on the left, shown for comparison, was acquired by the same instrument on July 4, before the derailment. Light sources are not as crisp in the July 6…
gregladen | July 9, 2013A Panel at CFI's Women in Secularism panel featuring Sarah Moglia, campus organizing communication specialist, SSA; Carrie Poppy, animal rights activist, podcast co-host of "Oh No, Ross and Carrie!"; Amy Davis Roth, artist, blogger at "Skepchick"; and Rebecca Watson, co-host of "Skeptics' Guide to the Universe," creator of "Skepchick". The panel is moderated by Desiree Schell, activist, podcast host of "Skeptically Speaking"
gregladen | July 9, 2013Thought you might be interested in this:
On July 9, 2013, Rep. Henry A. Waxman released a report comparing the impacts of climate change in members’ districts with members’ voting records. The report found a widespread “climate disconnect” in the voting records of the Republican members representing the districts most affected by the soaring temperatures in 2012. They cast anti-climate votes 96% of the time. No similar “climate disconnect” was found in the voting records of House Democrats. The report is available here.
HERE is an interactive map that provides record temperature…
gregladen | July 7, 2013Earlier in the northern summer, it looked like the rapid melt of Arctic Sea ice we've been seeing over the last several years was happening again, but rather than being a record year, it was merely tracking along the lower side of the distribution of the long term average. Last year, in contrast, the amount of sea ice hit an all time low early in the year and then broke previous records into tiny icy pieces.
One of the reasons last year's ice melt was so dramatic is that an early storm churned up the ice and got melting going a bit early.
This year, there was no early churning up event,…
gregladen | July 6, 2013by Hollie McNish
If you are embarrassed by breastfeeding that's fine, that's you. But do keep that to yourself and never, ever, act on that embarrassment. Also, it is possible that something is wrong with you and maybe you can have that fixed.
From here.
gregladen | July 2, 2013How to break into a car with your white privilage, or driving while black in America.
gregladen | July 2, 2013No, it turns out. Paul Douglass pointed me to this very interesting piece in Foreign Policy, from which I take a brief quote:
... The good neighbor has banked its economy on the cursed elixir of political dysfunction -- oil. Flush with visions of becoming a global energy superpower, Canada's government has taken up with pipeline evangelists, petroleum bullies, and climate change skeptics. Turns out the Boy Scout's not just hooked on junk crude -- he's become a pusher. And that's not even the worst of it.
With oil and gas now accounting for approximately a quarter of its export revenue,…
gregladen | July 1, 2013I'm sure you already know the story of Lonesome George:
And now, you can see "him" (as it were) at the American Museum of Natural History. From a press release:
Lonesome George Will Be on View at American Museum of Natural History
Museum will Oversee Preservation and Taxidermy of Famous Tortoise
Lonesome George, the 100-year-old (estimated) Pinta Island tortoise (Chelonoidis abingdoni)—the last of his kind—who died in June 2012, will be preserved for posterity by the same expert taxidermy and conservation team that worked on the acclaimed renovation of the Jill and Lewis Bernard Family Hall…
gregladen | July 1, 2013Nineteen fire fighters were killed yesterday as they were overrun by a lightning-sparked fire in Arizona. This consisted of the entire crew as deployed to fight the Yarnell Hill Fire near Phoenix, Arizona. The best way to honor these fallen heroes, from afar and from the perspective of fellow citizens, is to demand that more support be given to their efforts (by ending the Republican Sequester) and to acknowledge that their job has been made much harder because of global warming induced increases in wild fire frequency and severity.
Global warming is on track to double the number of wild…
gregladen | June 27, 2013Here is a small selection of responses and reactions to President Obama's climate change speech.
Michael Mann: 'The most aggressive and promising climate plan' from 'executive branch in years'
Michael Mann is director of Penn State University's Earth System Science Center, and a genuine hero, who has been attacked by the climate denial nexus, which has tried to destroy his career. And he is fighting back. His brief statement on President Obama's climate speech needs to be read in its entirety, but here are some key points...
President Obama acts on climate change by enforcing the law
The…
gregladen | June 27, 2013Here, David Letterman interviews the man who spent two years in prison for trying to sand in the way of the Bush administration's attempt to sell off your future.
More here.
gregladen | June 26, 2013In the old days, it was believed that you would save gas by leaving your car running if you planned to use it again within a few minutes. That has probably become less true over time as cars have gotten more and more efficient over time. Apparently, idling your car for even something like 10 seconds uses more gas than turning it off and on again. This is caused by the use of fancy fuel systems that cars use now. This technology is, of course, leveraged in hybrids which turn their internal combustion engines off and on as needed.
Anyway, here is an infographic that provides the details. The…
gregladen | June 26, 2013This is just a weather prediction, so it is subject to revision, but the National Weather Service is expecting an historic heatwave in the American West next week, probably peaking next weekend. Temperatures in Death Valley will approach 130 degrees F, and Las Vegas will top 115 degrees F, if predictions pan out. The heat wave may extend to the Canadian Border.
From Andrew Freedman at Climate Central:
The furnace-like heat is coming courtesy of a “stuck” weather pattern that is setting up across the U.S. and Canada. By early next week, the jet stream — a fast-moving river of air at…
gregladen | June 26, 2013 No time for a meeting of the Flat Earth Society.
"I don’t have much patience for anyone who denies that this challenge is real. We don’t have time for a meeting of the Flat Earth Society. Sticking your head in the sand might make you feel safer, but it is not going to protect you from the coming storm. Ultimately we will be judges as a people and as a society and as a country on where we go from here ... push back on misinformation, speak up for the facts, broaden the circle of those who are willing to stand up for our future, convince those in power to reduce our carbon pollution … invest…