multi-media
illconsidered | October 22, 2008"It's not really that hard to understand" is the catch phrase in this YouTube video featuring Herman Daly, the subject is the insanity of the economic cult of perpetual growth:
I got this from the most recent posting at Things Break, which you should read and be sure to follow the links.
I would also offer here the very compelling image from New Scientist that isn't actually clickable from TB's post.
(this image is courtesy of New Scientist and is part of this article)
illconsidered | October 6, 2008This was Palin's response when asked about climate change in Thursday's vice-presidential debate:
I think the (rather blindingly) obvious point to any with the slightest sincere interest in this issue is that despite what she says the cause of the current climate change is completely central to the question of what to do about it. Real Climate makes this point whether you are wholly in the adaptation camp or wholly in the mitigation camp.
She mentions magical cycles as a possible explanation, one of the standard, easily debunkable lines. But as a young earth creationist, what cycles is she…
illconsidered | October 1, 2008Here is a very well done little animation about "tipping points" and climate change. It is by Leo Murray and it seems is a winner or candidate for some "Green" film festival I have never heard of.
Wake Up, Freak Out - then Get a Grip from Leo Murray on Vimeo.
Olive Heffernan gives it a positive review on the scientific content at Nature's Climate Feedback blog.
If you have 11 minutes I recommend it, or just forward a link to a friend.
illconsidered | September 20, 2008Colbert has the CEO of GM, Bob Lutz, on his show and it is a pretty good one. The discussion is about GM's new hybrid car, the Volt. The two most memorable moments are 1. Lutz cynically revealing he doen't believe the whole CO2 global warming thing and that 32,000 scientists think it is sunspots(!) and 2. Colbert asking if he can recharge his Volt using the cigarette lighter in his Hummer! That was a real LOL moment : )
Watch it here:
(saw this on Treehugger)
illconsidered | September 15, 2008I don't know if you all do too, but I find the whole LHC thing pretty interesting.
So here's a short video (6ish minute) that gives a very simple and visual overview of how the whole thing operates:
Not at the physics grad student level or anything, but interesting for the rest of us!
Interesting factoid: at their speed of 99.9999991% of the speed of light, the accelerated protons will have a mass 7000 times that of their mass at rest.
illconsidered | September 10, 2008For those of you who read this blog and don't read Pharyngula, (there must be a few!), I found this video to be too compelling to stop wathcing, and very powerful and moving in its message.
There really is a lot at stake in the coming election, but I have less and less hope as each week goes by.
illconsidered | September 5, 2008As if this and this weren't enough, below we have McCain himself applying the "Palin lives near Russia" litmus test for foreign policy experience.
Around minute 2:30:
GIBSON: Can you honestly say you feel confident having someone who hasn't traveled outside the United States until last year, dealing with an insurgent Russia, with an Iran with nuclear ambitions, with an unstable Pakistan, not to mention the war on terror?
MCCAIN: Sure. And one of the key elements of America's national security requirements are energy. She understands the energy issues better than anybody I know in Washington…
illconsidered | September 4, 2008How cool is this?
I found that via yesterday's APOD.
It is video taken by Deep Impact looking back from 50 million km (31 million miles) away in space.
illconsidered | August 20, 2008So Bill Maher is interviewing a sitting US Senator about evolution. This Senator is not so sure about evolution ("the scientific communty is a little divided on that") and Maher is a little sceptical that intelligent people could actually believe in a talking snake:
You're a Senator. You are one of the very few people are really running this country. It worries me that people are running my country, who think, who believe in a talking snake.
And the Senator's defense?
"You don't have to pass an IQ test to be in the senate"
No kidding you don't!
illconsidered | August 8, 2008Again, just because!
Love that music, too. I heard that on SBS in Tasmania in 2001 and struggled hard to find out what it was but never did. Now I know, "Sweet Lullaby" by Deep Forest (this video has a different version). Waiting for the CD now.
illconsidered | August 7, 2008What would adapting to climate change be like? A picture is worth a thousand words:
But a second picture is worth a few thousand more!
I saw the kids protecting their families from the rising tide at the beach and thought it was an amusing analogy. The running-away photo was just an unforeseen bonus!
I, and the throngs of others, were at that overcrowded beach to see some fireworks. Well actually to take pictures of the fireworks. After four evenings of this, all part of Vancouver's "Celebration of Light" fireworks competition, I think I have learned the basics of photographing them.…
illconsidered | August 6, 2008Global Warming is happening too slowly. Or so says Dan Gilbert, psycholgist and author of the book "Stumbling on Happiness".
Watch this video for a psychologist's explanation of why we are failing to act in the face of the global threat that is climate disruption.
(click here for the page at popcast if the embed doesn't work)
The video is about 15 minutes long and presents some evolutionary psychological reasons why global warming does not trigger our proper threat response mechanisms. He is a good speaker, so it is not as boring as it sounds like it could be!
(hat tip to China at the…
illconsidered | August 1, 2008Posted just because I love this (besides, it's Friday, let's go dancing!)
Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.
illconsidered | July 31, 2008Via the contest notification I posted about here, I just watched a very effective video they say was conceived, written and directed by a 10 year old boy. Watch it below, it is about a minute:
"Save It" Global Warming message by 10 yr old from 1skycampaign on Vimeo.
Not to be critical at all, especially not of a 10 year old who has not contributed to the framing of environmental debates yet, but it does bring up something that has been bugging me for a while. The whole "Save the Planet" meme is a bit misguided and I think presents a weak point for activists in the media circus that…
illconsidered | July 30, 2008Sizzle: A Global Warming Comedy is a new film from scientist turned filmmaker Randy Olsen ("Rediagnosing the Oceans", "Flock of Dodos") and rather than being a film about global warming, it is a film about the making of a film about global warming. Sizzle is also a self described "novel blend of three genres - mockumentary, documentary and reality." Olsen, as well as directing, is the main character who sets out to emulate Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth but this time featuring the actual scientists.
The challenge of combining three genres is avoiding failure three times. The film needs to…
illconsidered | July 17, 2008(hat tip to In It For he Gold)
Here is a nice Q&A session wth Dr James Hansen, of NASA'as GISS institute covering things from weater vs climate to politics and policy. It's about 11 minutes
illconsidered | June 10, 2008I have not done any checking on this (hey, what are blogs for?) but it is definately plausible and if true very important. It is also potentially avoidable.
What they are saying, if you don't want to watch, is that they have some inside information on major ISP's plans to radically alter the way the internet is accessed. In short, by 2012, if this comes to fruition, ISP's will not offer open internet access, rather you will subsrcibe to packages of popular websites and pay extra for any other sites you want to visit.
Net neutrality is not an unfamiliar issue for most of you out there I am…
illconsidered | April 29, 2008So most of us have probably seen them before, animations of flight patterns spreading across North America and the globe, but I thought this one was particularily satisfying in its production:
Try not to think of all the carbon emissions associated with all that flying!