cmooney | July 27, 2006I've just noted that over in the comments at Prometheus, Roger Pielke Jr. has taunted myself and numerous others for not blogging about the recently released statement by a number of hurricane experts, on both sides of the hurricane-climate divide, saying that whether storms are intensifying or not, we had better stop our "lemming-like march to the sea." I applaud the statement, although I am not at all surprised by it. It seems to me that U.S. hurricane experts have agreed upon this basic and undeniable fact--that we have foolishly put far too many lives and far too much property in harm's…
cmooney | July 25, 2006What a great quote from Morgan Spurlock in the latest issue of Time magazine. In a sense, with these words Spurlock articulates a key aspect of what I've found Seed magazine to be all about. I encourage you to check out the whole interview with Spurlock, and then watch season two of 30 Days, starting this week....
cmooney | July 24, 2006Recently Jeff Masters noted of Hurricane Daniel--which attained Cat 4 strength over the East Pacific recently--that it was his "favorite type of hurricane--a huge, spectacular Category 4 (almost 5) storm that is no threat to land." Actually, albeit in a weakened state, Daniel may hit Hawaii, so perhaps it's a threat after all. Still, as I contemplate the next storm in the North Atlantic--which will either be named Tropical Storm Chris or Hurricane Chris--I find myself feeling pretty much the same way.
On the one hand, I don't want my namesake hurricane to be totally wimpy. On the other, I…
cmooney | July 24, 2006...three copies of the hardcover edition, anyway. I'm not sure when new hardcovers will be in stock. But in any case, this is as good a time as any to make another mention that the new paperback version, due out in roughly a month, is available now for preorder. It's an updated version of the hardcover, with a lengthy new introduction, edits, and so on.
So if you are planning to get a paperback, let me remind you again that now's the time to put in a preorder. Last time around, we managed to get the hardcover edition on a top 25 list at Amazon.com for preorders. I sure would like to see that…
cmooney | July 24, 2006From the Wall Street Journal's Peggy Noonan:
During the past week's heat wave--it hit 100 degrees in New York City Monday--I got thinking, again, of how sad and frustrating it is that the world's greatest scientists cannot gather, discuss the question of global warming, pore over all the data from every angle, study meteorological patterns and temperature histories, and come to a believable conclusion on these questions: Is global warming real or not? If it is real, is it necessarily dangerous? What exactly are the dangers? Is global warming as dangerous as, say, global cooling would be? Are…
cmooney | July 23, 2006In my book, The Republican War on Science, I noted that James Inhofe in a 2003 speech had included a "harsh attack on science blogger and journalist David Appell." The phrase "sheer lunacy" was used. You can see for yourself here. (Why I'm defending Appell I don't know, as he hasn't been particularly kind to me lately, but whatever, he's part of the tribe.)
Anyway, now Inhofe and his staff are at it again, with attacks on two very respected science writers, Seth Borenstein of the AP and Andy Revkin of the New York Times. Much of this has been reported in Greenwire, for which you unfortunately…
cmooney | July 19, 2006Ha! Now those linguists and etymologists at the National Hurricane Center are backtracking! To wit:
REGARDING THE PRONUNCIATION OF BERYL...A REVIEW OF SEVERAL DICTIONARIES SHOWS THAT BOTH BER'-IL AND BURL ARE ACCEPTED PRONUNCIATIONS...AND IN FACT THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DIRECTIVE SPECIFIES THE FORMER...TWO SYLLABLE...PRONUNCIATION. THE ONLY BERYL I PERSONALLY KNOW ALSO PRONOUNCES IT BER'-IL. WE APOLOGIZE FOR ANY CONFUSION.
This is James Franklin writing; forecaster Stacy Stewart is the one who told us it was pronounced like "Berle." I wonder if the forecasters are as divided over the…
cmooney | July 19, 2006Bush's stem cell veto is going to have big, big political repercussions. The stem cell issue will certainly feature prominently in multiple congressional races this fall. So now the pressing political question becomes, which members of Congress who are up for re-election, and who support Bush on stem cells (and therefore have votes on the record against expanding the policy), are most vulnerable? Hmm, I imagine Santorum is one of them....list your favorite enemies of science below, with an emphasis on folks actually up for reelection this year.
cmooney | July 19, 2006Art Caplan has an extremely powerful piece denouncing Bush's latest action. And indeed, it's truly unbelievable: Bush misleads us about the extent to which his stem cell policy will support research, never apologizes, and then blocks the expansion of that policy once it has become entirely clear that it did not succeed on the president's own terms--i.e., by supporting adequate research. But let Caplan say it:
With his veto the president has now reaffirmed a policy that never made any sense, garnered no scientific support to speak of, was abandoned by both houses of Congress and the leaders of…
cmooney | July 19, 2006In a recent post, before we officially had Tropical Storm Beryl, I wrote that I could "hardly Beryl the suspense." Alas, this pun turns on "Beryl" being pronounced like "barrel." But now comes NHC forecaster Stacy Stewart telling me I'm wrong:
THE LAST RECON PASS THROUGH THE CENTER OF BERYL THIS MORNING INDICATED THE PRESSURE HAD DROPPED ANOTHER MILLIBAR DOWN TO 1004 MB. FLIGHT-LEVEL WINDS AT 850 MB WERE 52 KT IN THE EASTERN QUADRANT IN CONVECTION...AND THAT IS THE JUSTIFICATION FOR INCREASING THE INTENSITY TO 40 KT. ALSO...THE CORRECT PRONUNCIATION OF TROPICAL STORM BERYL IS BERLE... LIKE…
cmooney | July 19, 2006Judging from the stem cell vote, it looks like the Republican right is still predominant, even if there has been some erosion on this issue and a lot of Republicans shifting positions:
In the Senate, 43 Democrats, 19 Republicans and one independent voted to expand federally funded embryonic stem cell research, while 36 Republicans and one Democrat -- Ben Nelson (Neb.) -- voted against it.
First of all, what the heck is up with Ben Nelson?
Second, the above vote tally inspires me to include a point of clarification. When I introduced the phrase "Republican War on Science" into the discourse--…
cmooney | July 18, 2006Well, we appear to have a second TC for this season--though it has not yet been officially named Beryl. Right now it's just Tropical Depression TWO. The storm is hanging out off the coast of the Carolinas, and a tropical storm watch has been issued. Jeff Masters is tracking this proto-Beryl, which he expects to remain at sea. Meanwhile, the first National Hurricane Center forecast discussion contains this important section:
THE INTENSITY FORECAST IS SOMEWHAT TRICKY. THE SHIPS MODEL ONLY BRINGS THE CYCLONE UP TO ABOUT 45 KT IN 48 HOURS. HOWEVER... THIS CONSERVATIVE INTENSITY FORECAST APPEARS…
cmooney | July 17, 2006Dude, I fricken love that Chuck Darwin is on the ten pound note.
Also, I saw a fox this morning while jogging in Hyde Park. And these birds: Greylag Goose, Grey Heron, Blackbird, Black-headed Gull, Carrion Crow (probably), Tufted Duck (I think), Great Crested Grebe, Lesser Black Backed Gull (probably), Magpie, Mute Swan, Woodpigeon, and unidentified others. From a birding perspective, you might remark that I am really gathering the low-hanging fruit here. But since the last time I was in London was nearly ten years ago, and I was not then a birder, I never noted any of these suckers down…
cmooney | July 17, 2006While in Albany, I sat down with Greg Dahlman of this radio station to talk about global warming and media coverage. I sound reasonably lucid (although I could have done much better), so I thought I'd provide a link for you. Listen here, starting at minute 7:45 or thereabouts and continuing through minute 15:00....
cmooney | July 17, 2006This CNN story is quite representative of an obnoxious genre: Stories about Bush's failed stem cell policy which pretend that the President's "more than 60" lines claim was only undermined by the passage of considerable time, rather than almost immediately. In fact, as I detail in The Republican War on Science and as others like journalist Stephen Hall have also detailed, the claim was never defensible. The only factor that delayed and defused outrage over Bush's dramatic misleading of the public on this subject was 9/11, which wiped the issue of stem cells completely off the map (and rightly…
cmooney | July 17, 2006Is anyone else as sick as I am of repeated attacks on the "hockey stick" reconstruction of past temperatures? Joe Barton and cronies are at it again. Just when one would have hoped that the National Academy of Sciences report on this topic would provide some modicum of closure, the "skeptics" have derived yet another seeming line of attack.
As for myself, I am beyond bored with the whole thing. I'm reaching the point of despair. Listen, people: This is an argument over a study that is now some eight years old. Eight years! You would think there is nothing new under the sun in climate science…
cmooney | July 16, 2006Well, here I am in London....blogging about events from before I left. Better late than never.
First of all, the just-finished "Politics and Bioethics" conference--including my own talk--is covered in detail this piece from the Albany Times-Union. I arrived late at the conference Thursday, and so did not see the protests from the Not Dead Yet group that are described in the article.
As for the Friday panel on "Politicizing Science" with Richard Doerflinger, the two of us didn't really tangle very directly over adult stem cell issues. The structure of the event, with a third panelist…
cmooney | July 15, 2006As many of you folks will have noticed, I travel and speak a lot. So much so, in fact, that this new lifestyle has made it tough at times for me to get enough writing done. However, oddly enough, I also have become addicted to traveling. In fact, I find that getting out of Washington and holing myself up to work in strange places helps a lot--and that's what I'm doing for the next two weeks. I'm heading to London, where I'll be staying at the awesome Hempel Hotel and immersing myself in some serious writing. Granted, the city may have its distractions, but I've been to London before and seen…
cmooney | July 13, 2006Turns out he had a big article on this subject in the neoconservative New Atlantis fairly recently. As we've done before--very successfully--I'm going to pull out three numbered quotes and invite you to respond:
1. "It is true that Alzheimer's is not a promising candidate for stem cell therapies," says Dr. Stephen Minger of King's College London, "but it was not scientists who suggested it was--that was all politics in the U.S. driven by Nancy Reagan." But in the United States, Mrs. Reagan was backed by myriad scientific and patient advocacy groups who want public funding of ESC research,…
cmooney | July 13, 2006Haven't posted today as I've been on the road, and then had to catch up on sleep. As a result, while I arrived four hours ago in Albany at the "Politics and Bioethics" conference, I but have not yet even gone down to check out the scene. But it really sounds like this conference is going to break new ground by bringing left and right to the same table. Meanwhile, I have a talk to prepare for tomorrow, so I'm ducking out of range again for the moment...
P.S.: Thanks to those who left comments about Doerflinger. I may leave a more detailed subsequent post asking you to respond to particular…