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British Bracing for Invasion of Slugs

First Guy Fawkes, then the IRA, then Al Qaeda. Now England is facing a new threat from within...slugs. The mild, wet winter in England has created the perfect conditions for slug overpopulation and the destruction of British gardens. The Daily Mail (England's most trusted, oldest, and least sensational periodical) is doing its civic duty by calmly informing the population, GARDENERS WARNED SLUG EPIDEMIC THIS SUMMER WILL BE THE 'STUFF OF NIGHTMARES'. Slug 1: You be ready and do exactly as I say. On my signal, ride round behind our position and flank them. Slug 2: We must not divide our…

Miniature Pigs: Pets of the Future

The smartest person in England has bred a new kind of pet pig, one that fits in the palm of your hand! Chris Murray's Pennywell Miniature pigs recently gave birth to eight piglets at his farm in Devon. According to this article on abcnews.com, Murray wanted a kind of pig "that children can enjoy giving...a cuddle." Hmm....creepy. This is where the meat for those tiny little sandwiches they serve at tea time comes from... Anyhoo, Murray is trying to sell them in pairs so they always have a companion and claims that they are easy to house train. He just sold a couple to some British celebrity…

The Pistol Shrimp - Sonic Weaponry

Alpheid shrimp are a type of snapping shrimp, which have a specialized claw to create a blast of pressure to stun or kill their prey. This motion can also create sonoluminescence, a burst of light from a collapsing cavitation bubble. While the light is not visibile to the naked eye, the pistol shrimp is the only known organism to create light in this way. They are also among the loudest critters in the ocean, competing with whales for the amount of noise they create. Enjoy this unneccessarily melodramatic, but still very cool, video: Family Alpheidae * Some other notable features of snapping…

Requiem for a landline.

While sometime the phone would ring Just as we were sitting down to eat Or telling a bedtime story Or trying to get out the door Or drifting off to sleep, There was a comfort in being Reachable By those who needed to reach us And in whose reach we wanted to be. But now, the unsteady dial tone is gone. The earful of static has gone silent. The landline, she is dead. And verily, we might mourn, Then let her rest in peace, Survived by the cell phones. But we need our DSL As an academic needs her coffee* (Or as a twentyish Objectivist needs his Rush CD), And so we wait For the phone company guy…

North Carolina Science Blogging Conference 2007 -- Friday dinner.

Bora just said, "There are twenty bloggers here. Who's live blogging the dinner?!" I guess the answer is: Me. Although really, it's not like I can give a comprehensive account of the dinner, since I've mostly been sitting here conspiring with Bill Hooker and Zuska about ways to change the culture of science for the better. Given the importance of that task, I think it's almost worth missing the conversations at the other end of our table, and at the other table. (As Bill notes: The problem with these conference dinners is that there are approximately 400 conversations going on, and you…

Friday Sprog Blogging: Thanksgiving week.

The Free-Ride offspring spent Thanksgiving with the Grandparents Who Lurk But Seldom Comment, cutting into the opportunities for the Free-Ride parents to ask them about matters scientific. Nonetheless, the sprogs have been doing science-y things on their vacation from parents. Two highlights: A visit to the Griffith Observatory, where they not only took in a planetarium show, but also weighed themselves on Mercury. (Both elder offspring and younger offspring weighed in at zero -- clearly Mercury is the right planet to visit after a heavy Thanksgiving meal!) A visit to the California…

If ye be talkin' like a pirate, ought ye be walkin' like a pirate?

Avast, it be International Talk Like a Pirate Day, and we've seized this blog from that landlubber Stemwedel! We've run up a new flag (designed by that pirate's pirate Pough), and Cap'n Free-Ride is drivin' this ship now. But, me hearties, ye know that there's honor among pirates, don't ye? Hie ye off to read the Jolly Roger Manifesto of the dread pirate Beyerstein, who captains that bucket Majikthise. Tonight be "Back t' School Night" for the wee Free-Rides, where we'll be promotin' the all-pirate science curriculum. Avast! Ye best be studyin' that pirate curriculum, as a shortage of sea…

Mens sana in corpore nerdo.

("A strong mind in a nerdy body", from the Latin, five years of which also contributes to my nerd cred.) There's this stereotype that the really brainy kids have some difficulty moving around the physical world successfully. Sometimes it holds true, I am sad to report. In junior high, my physical education grades (Bs, generally) routinely kept me off the highest tier of the honor roll. In high school, though, I managed to earn varsity letters: for Math Team, Chemistry Team, and Quiz Bowl. (They looked darn good sewn over the pockets of my cardigan-style letter sweater, though.) My senior…

Looking for the appropriate rhyme for "twelve".

So, in the Free-Ride house we're pleased as punch that Pluto hasn't lost its planetary status. (No, we don't consider the "plutons" lesser planets. Eccentric in their orbits, perhaps, but there's nothing wrong with that.) As well, we are pleased that the "tenth planet", whose local fans call it Xena, will be recognized as a plutonic planet. Indeed, we welcome the other two plutons to the fold. The only problem is, we'll be needing a new song. "Nine planets, fine planets" is a nice little ditty, but now there are twelve. What would we even rhyme with "twelve" in the chorus to an update of…

Friday Sprog Blogging: evidence of science.

Jet-lag and grading fatigue (plus being on the other coast for three days) mean that I haven't had much time lately to sit down with the sprogs and have a conversation about science. However, Casa Free-Ride presents me with clues which suggest that the Free-Ride offspring have been thinking about science. The younger Free-Ride offspring's backpack, for example, yielded a water quality report: The dry-erase calendar on the door between the kitchen and garage still retains visual aids from a conversation Dr. Free-Ride's better half seems to have had with the sprogs about genetics: And, on…

Teaching and testing (or, your philosophy on final exams).

Since finals are nearly upon us here (and since I'm not quite ready to face the next stack of papers that needs grading), I got to wondering how other academics feel about when the final exam ought to be written and why. So, a quick poll: When do you finish writing your final exam?online survey A relevant question, I suppose, is whether what you think is the best time to write the exam from a pedagogical standpoint corresponds to when you actually get it written (owing to your other responsibilities, the unidirectional flow of time, and so forth). Lurking in here are also some worries…

Death is not an option: optimizing academic performance edition.

Let's say you're a college student. You have a class meeting today at which a short essay (about 400 words) is due. The essay counts for about 5% of your grade for the course. At that class meeting, your instructor will be lecturing on the reading assignment upon which that short essay is focused. The material from the reading assignment will likely appear on the final exam, which is only a few weeks away. The thing is, you're not quite done with the essay (which needs to be handed in by the end of the class meeting), and class time is rapidly approaching. Do you: Skip the lecture in…

Continuing internet education.

Yo dawg! This is a soccer tournament weekend for the Free-Rides. (First game: 8:00 AM. Time of departure from Casa Free-Ride: 6:30 AM. Zombification complete!) At the moment, the younger offspring and I are chilling before the younger offspring's team's second game; the younger offspring is watching Fred videos, while I am filling in gaps in my knowledge with the help of Know Your Meme. Know Your Meme is a good way to catch up on memes that are currently part of the collective memory of the internets, but which might have peaked before some of us Luddites were sufficiently plugged in to…

Helping you get ready to celebrate tomorrow.

Because, of course, tomorrow is Mole Day. According to the National Mole Day Foundation: Celebrated annually on October 23 from 6:02 a.m. to 6:02 p.m., Mole Day commemorates Avogadro's Number (6.02 x 10^23), which is a basic measuring unit in chemistry. Mole Day was created as a way to foster interest in chemistry. Schools throughout the United States and around the world celebrate Mole Day with various activities related to chemistry and/or moles. Last year, I put up a post on Mole Day explaining the mole concept and why it matters in chemistry. But there was a little bit of grumbling…

The sprogs raise an important scientific question.

Actually, it might be a philosophical question. Younger offspring: One of my classmates told me that you fart every second. Dr. Free-Ride: What, me personally? Younger offspring: No, humans. Dr. Free-Ride: Each individual human farts every second? Younger offspring: Yeah. Dr. Free-Ride: No, I don't think so. Elder offspring: Well, there's gas exchange with your butt all the time. Dr. Free-Ride: I don't think super-low levels of gas exchange count. Younger offspring: Gas-exchange is a fart. Dr. Free-Ride: No, I think there needs to be a macroscopic quantity of gas released all at once for it…

Checking in with the silkmoths.

Overheard at Casa Free-Ride: Dr. Free-Ride's better half: Hey, some of the silkmoths are mating already! Elder offspring: With each other? Savor that moment of stunned silence! A bunch of the pupating silkworms are still in the cocoons, but as of Thursday, about ten had emerged as moths. I was actually lucky enough to be in the room with my camera as this one emerged. Judging by the size of her abdomen (largish), we're guessing it's a female. She still hasn't "inflated" her wings yet. And, we got to watch this female lay eggs: The eggs are the little yellow spheres. In addition to…

Snail eradication (day 23).

Another overcast, cool, and dry morning today. The pickings were extremely slim. However, it also bears mentioning that the amount of visible gastropod damage to my plants -- especially my food crops -- is greatly reduced since I began my snail eradication campaign less then a month ago. I'm going to count that as a victory. The last few weeks has also seen a significant clearing of weeds and tall grass. In part this is because we were trying specifically to reduce slug and snail hiding places. But part of it is just that if you're out every morning poking around in search of gastropods,…

Snail eradication (day 17).

This morning, once again, was dry and overcast, although not as cold as it has been. Because I know this is low-yield gastropod-picking weather, I went right to the most likely locations: the bottom of the watering can and the new snail and slug shelters. Nothing. I thought about watering near the shelters, going inside for a cup of tea, and coming back out to check for gastropods. But instead, I decided to use the snailing time to clear more weeds, especially from between the raised garden beds. This means, long pants, long sleeves, and socks notwithstanding, I'm covered with angry welts…

Unprovoked Christmas YouTubery.

In an earlier post, I neglected to mention that Uncle Fishy and RMD engaged a party bus to transport revelers to and from the dinner at Blue Hill at Stone Barn. Conditions on the roads were icy and treacherous, which means the trip took longer than it might have. Also, there was a wine pairing for each course of the dinner. So, on the way back, there was singing on the bus. A lot of singing. There were folks on the bus who knew every word to Christmas songs I didn't even know existed. For example, "Dominic the Donkey": And, owing to David Sedaris, I knew about "I Want a Hippopotamus for…

Somebody didn't do their research

I just got this email, addressed to "Dear Blog Author". This must be the internet equivalent of evangelical door-knocking. Invitation to Join Christian Bloggers A small group of us have started a new site called Christian Bloggers. Our prayer and intent is to bring Christians closer together, and make a positive contribution to the Internet community. While many of us have different "theologies", we all share one true saviour. Would you be interested in joining Christian Bloggers? Please take a few minutes to have a look at what we are trying to do, and if you are interested, there is a sign…

UARS will crash on September 23rd, +/1 one day

According to the latest estimates from NASA, the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite will re-enter the Earth's atmosphere next Thursday, Friday or Saturday. It will strike somewhere between .... well, it will strike the earth somewhere, not likely near the poles. Could hit anywhere, really. UPDATE HERE The satellite was launched in 1991 via Discovery, and has collected whopping huge piles of extremely important data. It weighs 5,668 kilograms. UARS was decomissioned on December 15th, 2005 and at that time, lowered into a "disposed orbit" In case a piece of UARS falls near you, the…

For Your Calendar!

The Minnesota Atheist book project deadline is September 30th. "This is a chance to tell your story while becoming a published author, and to support Minnesota Atheists' mission of promoting positive atheism. This is an entirely volunteer effort, with all proceeds going towards Minnesota Atheists. The book, tentatatively titled Atheist Voices of Minnesota, will be a collection of writings by Atheists in or from Minnesota. For more information visit http://mnatheists.org/content/view/602/199/ , or email mnatheistbook@gmail.com." For Everybody who pretends to be in the zipcode is 55433: Sunday…

A Mission to Study the Moon From Crust to Core

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA's twin lunar Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) spacecraft lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 9:08 a.m. EDT (6:08 a.m. PDT) Saturday, Sept. 10, to study the moon in unprecedented detail. GRAIL-A is scheduled to reach the moon on New Year's Eve 2011, while GRAIL-B will arrive New Year's Day 2012. The two solar-powered spacecraft will fly in tandem orbits around the moon to measure its gravity field. GRAIL will answer longstanding questions about the moon and give scientists a better understanding of how Earth and other…

Bird Migration and Global Change

I'm going to have more to say about this topic and this book at a later time, but I wanted to get a notice of it out for Migration Week. Bird Migration and Global Change by George W. Cox addresses the issue of impact on bird populations under conditions of global warming. This is an authoritative and scholarly book that is totally accessible to the interested bird-oriented or climate/conservation-oriented audience. After several very important context and theory chapters, the author divides the world's migratory birds into major categories (such as "Northern Hemisphere Land Birds: Short…

Beware of Unity?

A lot of people got mad at me when I complained about the upcoming switch from Gnome to Unity. (And yes, I know Unity is based on Gnome but it is not Gnome. It is Unity). And yeah, I had some things wrong and some of the comments contraindicating my concern were valid, but many were more like "They know what they are doing, so just accept it" which is a little to Microsofty for me. And, for that matter, for the Linux Community in general, I would have thought. And now we have disconcerting reports that the new desktop which is coming out in a couple of weeks, in a late (but not final)…

The 65th Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle: Take a tour through the museum

The 65th Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle has been posted by Steve Novella over at his Neurologica Blog: The room was filled with that odd combination of excitement, interest and restlessness that accompanies children forced to walk through a museum. "Quiet down," said Ms. Trueblood for the hundredth time. As experienced as she was a gaggle of nine-year-olds was always a challenge. "Raise your hand if you have a question, otherwise I want quiet, and pay attention to Mr. Lucious." Join Steve and the rest for a healthy sampling of the best skeptical blogging of the last fortnight. Next up is…

The car of the future is here

The Jaguar C-X75 (not to be confused with te Siemens CX75 cell phone) will go almost 70 miles on its battery pack, using one 145kW electric motor attached to each wheel, accelerate faster than most hot cars, and reach top speeds that are greater than most fast cars. You can plug it into you wall and thus fuel it off of your local coal burning plant or nuke (yes, folks, plug-in electric cars are terribly inefficient because the electricity is made miles away from where it is used) or, for more efficiency than most (or perhaps any?) hybrid, the car has two internal microturbine engines that…

My Sister, the State Board of Education Candidate

A piece by Historyguy Five Three Seven One Six: Did I mention this was the most boring job in the world? Mind-numbingly, soul-crushingly, stab-yourself-in-the-leg-with-a-pen-to-get-them-to-call-an-ambulance-so-you-can-escape-this-meeting- boring. If she wins this seat, she will spend days in meetings discussing the logistics of textbook acquisition, and politely sitting through hours of public comments from people who think Adam and Eve rode dinosaurs to listen to Jesus preach the Sermon on the Sanctity of Tax Cuts for the Rich. Now, for some reason, she actually likes this kind of…

How social networks predict epidemics

You will recall my post: A genetic cause of rapid degeneration in some Alzheimer's patients. Well, now it (the topic) is a Ted Video. But before you watch it, I need to take down Nicholas Christakis for saying the dumbest thing I've heard all week. No, Nicholas, it is not true in any way whatsoever that humans did not have complex social networks prior to "emerging" from the "African Savanna" ... nor would the implication that you make that those still living in Africa, or the savanna therein, fail in this way. That's just you being an ignorant racist westerner. Otherwise your talk is…

Three Tropical Energy Blobs

Tropical storms and hurricanes are eddies in the massive current of solar energy transiting from the equator, where there is lots of it, to the poles, where there is less. And when I say equator, I mean the ITCZ. Anyway, there are three such concentration of energy in the Atlantic worthy of a close look. Igor is a hurricane of Category Four strength that will probably turn north and avoid land, but maybe not. Julia is a tropical storm that is expected to come close to hurricane strength in about two days, but will most likely not become a full scale hurricane. Julia is likely to turn…

Earl's track along the US East Coast is unclear

Danielle is now a Tropical Storm heading to it's watery grave west of Iceland. Earl, on the other hand, has a non-zero chance of hitting something. Earl has become a hurricane, and is seemingly leveling off in its intensity. Earl is a Category Four storm with maximum sustained winds of almost 135 mph (214 kph) and stronger gusts. Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Turks and Caicos islands are threatened with hurricane level storm activity. Earl is going to turn to the north and eventually northeast, but the storm will be heading roughly in the direction of North Carolina (which…

Blog Against Theocracy

Neural Gourmet has put out a call for everyone to blog against theocracy: I'd like invite you all to Blog Against Theocracy. This is a little blog swarm being put together by everybody's favorite panties blogger Blue Gal for Easter weekend, April 6th through the 8th. The idea is simple. Just post something related to, and in support of, the separation of church and state each of those three days. Something big, something small, artistic, musical, textual or otherwise. The topic is your choosing. Whether your thing is stem cell research, intelligent design/Creationism, abortion rights, etc.,…

Free or almost free Kindle books on science, Africa ...

... and sundry related topics. If you use a Kindle to read these mostly older and thus free-ish books, please add your favorites in the comments. Africania, history, and other early works Conrad: Heart of Darkness Burton: First footsteps in East Africa How: People of Africa Kingsley: Travels in West Africa Shipman: To the Heart of the Nile Early science and natural philosophy Brues and Melander: Key to the families of North American insects: an introduction to the ... Darwin: On the Origin of Species, first edition Darwin: The Voyage of the Beagle or a Naturalist's Voyage Round the World…

Totally Cool Music Thing with Indigo Girls

eTown is a music and community-building radio show broadcast on a number of stations across the US. Well, it's not all music. They do a wide variety of things, including a kind of pickup-game with well known artists and not so well known, but very talented, musicians. etown's stated mission is "to educate, entertain and inspire a diverse audience, through music and conversation, to create a socially responsible and environmentally sustainable world." Here is the website where you can find out more. Anyway, my buddy Zack, a film maker sorta guy in Colorado, has made a very cool film…

Are you a North American and interested in being a research subject?

... in a research project having to do with dialect ... We are doing research on different accents in "North American" (US and Canadian) English. We know that Americans and Canadians have a great deal in common in the way they speak, but there are also differences. These differences are influenced by geography, gender, age, ethnicity, and many other factors. In order to study the ways that North American accents differ amongst each other, we have put together a survey of common words, and we'd like you to participate! We'd like recordings from anyone who has grown up speaking English in the…

What controversy?

Creationists have been chanting, "Teach the controversy" at us for some time, to which most biologists simply look puzzled and ask "What controversy?" There is no ongoing debate about the ideas peddled by the Discovery Institute within the scientific community, because, well, there have been no data presented to suggest that it would be a worthwhile and productive discussion. That's what I say, but I'm just one peon in the academic complex. But now Bob Camp has done a comprehensive survey to assess whether there actually is a controversy. He wrote to the department heads of a number of…

Will a Minnesota Congressional Race become a Holy War?

It seems that the Republican Candidate running for the Fifth Congressional District seat in Minnesota has one main political objective: To replace the sitting Democratic member of congress, Keith Ellison, explicitly because he, Ellison, is a "Moslem." The purpose of this candidacy is, explicitly, an effort to "take back" America (from the "Moslems") and "bring her to her knees" as a Christian Nation. Also, and again, explicitly, this candidate has no specific policy positions because he expects God to place those policy positions in his mouth at the appropriate times, as per Matthew 10:…

PZ Myers Speaks!

... in Edina. Science vs. Religion: How Faith Makes Us Wrong On Sunday, May 16th, Minnesota Atheists will host a presentation by Dr. P.Z. Myers. Myers is a biologist, associate professor at U of M Morris and webmaster of the popular site Pharyngula. His discussion will feature three examples - from physics, developmental biology, and neuro-science - where religion has clearly led people down the wrong path to incorrect answers, and where even now believers oppose many of the fact-based conclusions of science. He will be arguing that, if you try to argue that both science and religion are…

What a waste of some fine reptiles

Why not slaughter snakes? The bible says it is their fate to be ground under our heel, after all. Laelaps has a story about a town in Texas that turns butchery into a fun family event — warning, there is a photo, and if you decapitate enough snakes, you can get a lot of blood spattered around. I was most disgusted at the rationale; I heard this kind of stupid excuse a lot when I was a young fellow, in the country around Eastern Washington: According to Yahoo!News, some justify the atrocities by claiming that it keeps livestock safe from the dangerous snakes, and although I haven't seen any…

Gitmo As Hot Zone Research Center?

Interesting editorial in PLoS Genetics: Reports that the Bush administration has expressed an interest in closing the Guantanamo Bay detainee facility in Cuba [1], colloquially known in the US as "Gitmo," could stimulate a new chapter in US foreign policy. By converting Gitmo into a biomedical research institute dedicated to combating the diseases of poverty in the Western Hemisphere, we can tap into a little known, but highly effective tradition of vaccine diplomacy that we first began 50 years ago at the height of the Cold War [2],[3]. In the 1950s, polio epidemics were ravaging the major…

Texas Governor Rick Perry on How to Stop Being Gay ... or, how I shook off my homosexuality and learned to love boy scouts....

Rick Perry, Eagle Scout, has written a book about the boy scouts, defending their homophobic and anti humanist activism. An Eagle Scout and the father of an Eagle Scout, Perry stresses the importance of Scout values such as being "courteous and kind." (He is fond of phrases like "gosh" and "jiminy cricket.") He has received the Silver Antelope Award for outstanding service to the Scouts. Asked in a recent interview if being gay was a choice (I presume the interview pegged Perry for gay, otherwise why ask him this question), he replied: I'm not a social scientist. I can't answer the…

Now this is a promising development Never mind

Crap. Lippard misread the report: it was a 6 month form. There has been no net decline in revenues to that creationist junk organization, and I was wrong. There have been no promising developments in a decline in grassroots support for creationism. I've always had a low regard for settling creationism by court cases, since they don't do a thing to address popular support. Here is far better news, though, and unless there's some remarkable explanation for it, it's the most promising sign of real progress I've seen yet: revenues for Answers in Genesis dropped from $10 million in 2004 to $5…

Huckabee: You can take our racist flag and shove it

South Carolina people know true conservatism when they see it.You don't like people outside the state telling you how you ought to raise your kids, you don't like people from outside the state telling you what to do with the flag ... In fact, if somebody came down to Arkansas and told us what to do with our flag, we'd tell'em where to put the pole. Whether or not a flag, in this case the confederate flag, is a racist symbol is not necessarily something that a small group of people can decide. If a plurality or majority see it that way, then those waving the flag around and pretending it is…

American medical care at its finest

What should a doctor recommend for a 90 year old man with pancreatic cancer and liver metastases? Palliative care? Hospice? Those would seem to be the most reasonable options. If I were that 90 year old man, that's what I'd recommend. Unfortunately, I know from experience that that is all too often not what happens. I know and have seen the ordering of many invasive tests that won't change the outcome. So does Buckeye Surgeon. American medicine, as it is practiced now, all too often takes on a momentum that is very difficult to stop, a momentum demanding more, more, more, more, even in the…

Open mouth. Insert foot.

Given the way that he's so successfully resurrected Doctor Who, I had come to believe that Russell T. Davies could do no wrong. I guess I was wrong: The Daily Post is reporting that comments made by Executive Producer Russell T. Davies at the preview screening of Voyage of the Damned have caused quite a stir. When asked who from history he would like to see play the Doctor, Davies reportedly jokingly answered "Hitler. He was stern and strong. He would be great." According to the story, some guests laughed, but others were shocked by the remark. One fan later remarked: "Hitler carried out some…

Creationism and Global Warming Denial, together again

I wrote earlier how some Global Warming Skeptics likened themselves to Creationists. Over at the Panda's Thumb Richard Hoppe has more: Regular readers of the Thumb will recall that in February, the Ohio State Board of Education removed the "critical analysis of evolution" standard, benchmark, and lesson plan from the state's science standards. The matter was referred to the Achievement Committee of the Board, with instructions to consider whether a replacement should be inserted, and if so, what it should be. That was a hammer blow to the creationists on the board and to the Disco Institute.…

Dobzhansky on eugenics

John Wilkins is fighting the philosophical and historical fight against the Darwin's Deadly Legacy nonsense with an excellent summary of the course of the eugenics movement. I especially liked this quote from Dobzhansky: The eugenical Jeremiahs keep constantly before our eyes the nightmare of human populations accumulating recessive genes that produce pathological effects when homozygous. These prophets of doom seem to be unaware of the fact that wild species in the state of nature fare in this respect no better than man does with all the artificiality of his surroundings, and yet life has…

"CO2: We call it life"

RealClimate informs us of two ads being put out by the Onion Competitive Enterprise Institute. Punchline: "CO2: they call it pollution, we call it Life!". If the CEI staff was locked in an airtight room, would they still call CO2 Life? If you are unfamiliar with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, let me introduce some of their people. Steve Milloy, who Cato recently let go after the various pundit payola scandals, has found a new home at CEI. When you are both working for Philip Morris, I guess it's not a conflict of interest. Paul Georgia, who told the world that average temperature…

Global Warming Alarmism

Pat Michaels says that Kyoto would destroy the US economy: In a nutshell, that's why the European governments are so exercised about Bush's "no" to Kyoto. They see it as an international instrument that would destroy the economy of their major competitor, even as they know it doesn't do a thing about global temperature. These facts are evident. James Lovelock says global warming will make most of the planet uninhabitable We are in a fool's climate, accidentally kept cool by smoke, and before this century is over billions of us will die and the few breeding pairs of people that survive will…

Les Roberts talks about the Lancet Study

Democracy Now has an interview with Les Roberts about his survey. Roberts comments on Bush answering a question about Iraqi deaths: I guess, politically, he has to downplay this issue, but for him to say a number, that of the eight estimates out there is probably the lowest one, really is not a strategic thing to do in terms of winning hearts and minds in Iraq. Secondly, I'm even more struck that here a year after our study came out, the first time the President has been asked about this was not by a reporter, but by someone from the public when he took a question. Regular readers will be…