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First and foremost, I encourage you to learn about this fellow as your potential future president, and skip my bio if that's what it takes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_Anderson
My family and I lived off the grid in an earth-sheltered, solar powered underground house, for 15 years, starting in the early '80s, proving, at least to myself, the feasibility of solar power. Such a feat should be much easier with off-the-shelf materials available now.
I wrote a book on earth-sheltered solar greenhouses that has many good ideas, but should be condensed from 400 down to 50 pages, with new info from living off the grid. It's on my "to do" list.
I am 63 with a 21 year old heart--literally, as it was transplanted in 2005 (a virus, they think). This is why I strongly encourage you and everyone else to be an organ donor.
I may be the only tenured teacher you'll meet who got fired with a perfect teaching record. I spent seven years in court fighting that, only to find out that little guys always lose (http://www.opednews.com/articles/Letter-to-NEA-Leadership--by-Daniel-Geery-101027-833.html; recommended reading if you happen to be a parent, teacher, or concerned citizen).
I managed to get another teaching job, working in a multi-cultural elementary school for ten years (we had well over 20 native tongues when I left, proving to me that we don't need war to get along--no one even got killed there!).
I spent a few thousand hours working on upward-gliding airships, after reading The Deltoid Pumpkin Seed by John McPhee. But I did my modelling in the water, so it took only two years and 5,000 models to get a shape that worked. You can Google "aquaglider" to learn more about these. As far as I know, this invention represents the first alteration of Archimedes'principle, spelled out 2,500 years ago.
"Airside," the water toys evolved into more of a cigar shape, as this was easier to engineer. Also, solar panels now come as thin as half a manila folder, making it possible for airships to be solar powered. You can see one of the four I made in action by Googling "hyperblimp"(along with many related, advanced versions).
Along with others, I was recently honored to receive a Charles Lindbergh Foundation Award, to use these airships to study right whales off Argentina. Now we just have to make it happen!
More on that in a podcast, should you be so inclined:
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/upr/local-upr-936106.mp3 (followed by Rosalie Winard, bird photographer and friend of Terry Tempest Williams, and a bit on why you should be an organ donor).
I recently married a beautiful woman who is an excellent writer and editor, in addition to being a gourmet cook, gardener, kind, gentle, warm, funny, spiritual, and extremely loving. We met via "Plenty-of-Fish" and a number of seemingly cosmic connections.
I get blitzed reading the news damn near every day, and wonder why I do it, especially when it's the same old shit recycled, just more of it. In spite of Barbara Ehrenreich and reality, I'm a sucker for positive thinking; I recently finished reading Positivity, by Barbara Fredrickson, and recommend it, in the interest of your own sanity.
I like OpEd and think Rob Kall has done some wonderful things, but if someone could help out with the graphics and kinks in the system here, I'd really appreciate it.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012 Explosive Evolution May Not Follow Mass Extinctions
The research provides insight on how a new mass extinction, possibly one resulting from human-made problems such as deforestation and climate change, might affect life on Earth today.
"How would it affect today's plankton? How would it affect groups of organisms in general?" asked the paper's lead author, David W. Bapst, a PhD candidate at the University of Chicago, who studied with Mitchell as an undergraduate.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012 Fish of Antarctica Threatened by Warming
A Yale-led study of the evolutionary history of Antarctic fish and their "anti-freeze" proteins illustrates how tens of millions of years ago a lineage of fish adapted to newly formed polar conditions -- and how today they are endangered by a rapid rise in ocean temperatures.
Sunday, February 12, 2012 Cannabis Doubles Chances of Vehicle Crash (2 comments)
In conclusion, the authors suggest that the consumption of cannabis impairs motor tasks important to safe driving, increasing the chance of collisions and that future reviews should assess less severe collisions from a general driving population.
Sunday, February 12, 2012 Conservatism Thrives on Low Intelligence
There is plenty of research showing that low general intelligence in childhood predicts greater prejudice towards people of different ethnicity or sexuality in adulthood. Open-mindedness, flexibility, trust in other people: all these require certain cognitive abilities. Understanding and accepting others -- particularly "different" others -- requires an enhanced capacity for abstract thinking.
Saturday, February 11, 2012 Drug Quickly Reverses Alzheimer's Symptoms in Mice
Neuroscientists have made a dramatic breakthrough in their efforts to find a cure for Alzheimer's disease. The researchers' findings, published in the journal Science, show that use of a drug in mice appears to quickly reverse the pathological, cognitive and memory deficits caused by the onset of Alzheimer's.
Saturday, February 11, 2012 Transforming America's Built Environment (Video) (1 comments)
The country's 120 million buildings consume 42 percent of our nation's total energy and 72 percent of our electricity. The annual cost to fuel and power our buildings is $400 billion--as much as we spent on Medicare in 2009--and much of this is wasted.
Friday, February 10, 2012 Hydrogen from Acidic Water: Potential Alternative
"Using molecular chemistry, we've been able to capture the functional essence of molybdenite and synthesize the smallest possible unit of its proposed catalytic active site," says Chang, who is also an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). "It should now be possible to design new catalysts that have a high density of active sites so we get the same catalytic activity with much less material."
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 Nation's Largest Microgrid Online
The electric grid must evolve in response to aging infrastructure, national security risks, and environmental concerns. To ensure the grid's evolution into a healthy, sustainable, and efficient electric system powered by renewable energy, customers must understand the implications of an intelligent grid and become involved in this dynamic system. Students and staff at UCSD have become an integral part of one of the nation's largest experiments in microgrids.
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 Gasland: A Film on Fracking that Dwarfs Stephen King Movies (1 comments)
Hydraulic fracturing or fracking is a means of natural gas extraction employed in deep natural gas well drilling. Once a well is drilled, millions of gallons of water, sand and proprietary chemicals are injected, under high pressure, into a well. The pressure fractures the shale and props open fissures that enable natural gas to flow more freely out of the well.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 Environmental Message - Rocky Anderson 2012
It seems almost every article I read relates directly to what this Justice Party Nominee intends to change about America. It's titled "Environmental Message," but goes way beyond that if you read on some of the other issues.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 Global Extinction: Gradual Doom as Bad as Abrupt (1 comments)
About 252 million years ago, at the end of the Permian period, Earth almost became a lifeless planet. Around 90 percent of all living species disappeared then, in what scientists have called "The Great Dying." Algeo and colleagues have spent much of the past decade investigating the chemical evidence buried in rocks formed during this major extinction.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012 Fighting for Justice
More on Rocky Anderson, former Mayor of Salt Lake with a track record to be proud of. He's running for President on the Justice Party ballot, much going on now with great speed. Short video with main ideas, website link in video.
Thursday, January 19, 2012 Key Evolutionary Step in How You Got Here
More than 500 million years ago, single-celled organisms on Earth's surface began forming multicellular clusters that ultimately became plants and animals. Just how that happened is a question that has eluded evolutionary biologists.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012 The Man You've Been Waiting For: Rocky Anderson Acceptance Speech (2 comments)
This is not my campaign. This is a campaign of, for, and by the people. We join together in this endeavor for the sake of justice -- social justice, environmental justice, and economic justice. We pledge to organize and act, tenaciously and over the long haul, for the sake of the public interest, to enhance and protect freedom for all, and to vindicate the sacred promise of justice for all.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012 A Plea for Free Speech -- Frederick Douglass
No right was deemed by the fathers of the Government more sacred than the right of speech. It was in their eyes, as in the eyes of all thoughtful men, the great moral renovator of society and government. Daniel Webster called it a homebred right, a fireside privilege. Liberty is meaningless where the right to utter one's thoughts and opinions has ceased to exist. That, of all rights, is the dread of tyrants. It is the right which they first of all strike down. They know its power.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012 Why So Many Critics After 17,000 EV Sales in First Year?
Figures this week showed that the first mass-produced electric cars in the United States, the Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt, had total sales of 17,345 in 2011, the first year in which they were available. Compared with sales of 9,350 gas-electric hybrids in 2000, the first year the Honda Insight and Toyota Prius were offered in the U.S.--where total hybrid sales have now topped 2 million--17,000 might seem like a decent start for EVs.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012 Why Cars Will Keep Getting Lighter
At this year's Detroit auto show, there's been a lot of hoopla over fancy new electric cars and hybrids. Less-remarked has been the fact that automakers are shifting to smaller and lighter vehicles. With good reason: This is, by far, the easiest way to boost gas mileage.
Monday, January 16, 2012 Essentials for Transition to a Renewable Energy
On the other hand, if we could possibly elect a government that does what governments do best -- build infrastructure -- we can avoid a world of global warming and economic collapse by building enough wind farms, solar panels, and geothermal systems to power our economy and ignite a sustainable, broad-based period of economic growth. Of course, this will require a sea-change in the direction of the political system, along the lines of the Occupy movement, but there is too much at stake to throw up our hands in despair.
Sunday, January 15, 2012 What Can be Done to Slow Climate Change?
A new study led by a NASA scientist highlights 14 key air pollution control measures that, if implemented, could slow the pace of global warming, improve health and boost agricultural production.
Saturday, January 14, 2012 If You Look Like a Monkey (or not) Here's Why (2 comments)
"If you look at New World primates, you're immediately struck by the rich diversity of faces," said Michael Alfaro, a UCLA associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and the senior author of the study. "You see bright red faces, moustaches, hair tufts and much more. There are unanswered questions about how faces evolve and what factors explain the evolution of facial features. We're very visually oriented, and we get a lot of information from the face."
Wednesday, January 11, 2012 Links found: Climate Change, Elk, Plants, Birds
Climate change in the form of reduced snowfall in mountains is causing powerful and cascading shifts in mountainous plant and bird communities through the increased ability of elk to stay at high elevations over winter and consume plants, according to a groundbreaking study in Nature Climate Change.
Friday, January 6, 2012 BO Has an Big Bad Enemy: You!
The National Defense Authorization Act greatly expands the power and scope of the federal government to fight the War on Terror, including codifying into law the indefinite detention of terrorism suspects without trial. Under the new law the US military has the power to carry out domestic anti-terrorism operations on US soil.
Friday, January 6, 2012 Do Climate Change Models Underestimate Extinctions? (1 comments)
"We have really sophisticated meteorological models for predicting climate change," says ecologist Mark Urban, the study's lead author. "But in real life, animals move around, they compete, they parasitize each other, and they eat each other. The majority of our predictions don't include these important interactions."
Thursday, January 5, 2012 New Materials Remove CO2
Scientists are reporting discovery of an improved way to remove carbon dioxide -- the major greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming -- from smokestacks and other sources, including the atmosphere. Their report on the process, which achieves some of the highest carbon dioxide removal capacity ever reported for real-world conditions where the air contains moisture, appears in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012 Lower Light Bills, Carbon Footprint (2 comments)
The passing of Edison's bulb has already been decreed, and which of the two alternatives will replace it is at last becoming clear. It will be the LED.
The success of the light-emitting diode means curtains for the compact fluorescent light (CFL). This clunky, mercury-ridden, hard-to-dim, excessively white device has just two things going for it: It's more efficient than Edison's bulb and, right now, cheaper than the LED-based alternative.
Saturday, December 31, 2011 America's Leading Socialist (who you likely never heard of)
A widely read review of the book was published in the New Yorker and came to the attention of President John Kennedy. The book argued that perhaps 25% of Americans were living in poverty. Many consider the book to be the inspiration for Lyndon Johnson's "War on Poverty".
Sunday, December 25, 2011 Goodbye 'Shop Til You Drop'!
In this country, shopping is not just a national pastime. Consumer spending, which makes up about 70 percent of the economy, is a sort of patriotic duty -- never more so than in the last four years of economic malaise. So news from the National Retail Federation that the country is on track for a record-breaking holiday shopping season -- $469.1 billion in sales, up 3.8 percent from last year -- could only be a good thing, right?
Thursday, December 22, 2011 Two Earth-sized Planets Around Dying Star Most Hopeful (2 comments)
[Assuming we make it another decade orso, this may be highly relevant for our descendants.] Two Earth-sized planets have been discovered around a dying star that has passed the red giant stage. Because of their close orbits, the planets must have been engulfed by their star while it swelled up to many times its original size.
Thursday, December 22, 2011 Paint-on Solar Cells (2 comments)
A team of researchers at the University of Notre Dame has made a major advance toward this vision by creating an inexpensive "solar paint" that uses semiconducting nanoparticles to produce energy.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 The Rebirth of America - Christine Geery
Rocky Anderson was a two term Mayor of Salt Lake City, now filing with the FEC for candidacy as President of the U.S. Examples of his platforms: climate protection, immigration reform, restorative criminal justice, GLBT rights, ending the war on drugs, and many common sense platforms. He also happens to be the only Mayor who advocated the impeachment of Little George.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 Solar Power: 15 minutes
Solar is coming... and has been for several billion years.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 The Day America Died
With one signature, President Obama has done more damage to the Civil Rights of Americans than Osama Bin Laden ever did!
Saturday, December 17, 2011 Top 10 Ways Mobile Carriers Tried to Screw Us in 2011
Another year, another 12 months in which the mobile carriers did their best to screw us. AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon do so many bad, annoying and anti-consumer things that it's almost impossible to document it all. So below is a catalog of simply the most egregious acts the carriers perpetrated this year.
Saturday, December 17, 2011 How Ayn Rand Helped Make the U.S. a Selfish, Greedy Nation (10 comments)
Rand did have a God. It was herself. She said: I am done with the monster of "we," the word of serfdom, of plunder, of misery, falsehood and shame. And now I see the face of god, and I raise this god over the earth, this god whom men have sought since men came into being, this god who will grant them joy and peace and pride. This god, this one word: "I."
Friday, December 16, 2011 Amy Goodman Interviews Rocky Anderson; Alternative to Obama
A new political party has entered the fray as an alternative to Democrats and Republicans ahead of the 2012 elections. On Monday, former Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson announced will run for president with the newly formed Justice Party. Although hailing from a solidly Red state, Anderson has been known as one of the most progressive mayors of any major U.S. city in recent years. During his two mayoral terms from 2000 to 2008, Anderson was an outspoken champion of LGBT rights, environmental sustainability, and the antiwar movement in opposition to the Iraq War. Vowing to fight the influence of money over politics, Anderson kicked off his campaign on Monday with a pledge to limit individual donations to $100 a person. Anderson and the Justice Party say they hope to build a grassroots movement heading into the November 2012 elections. "We launched the Justice Party because the entire
Friday, December 16, 2011 Climate Change May Modify Half Earth's Plants (2 comments)
Climate change will also drive the conversion of nearly 40% of land-based ecosystems from one major ecological community type - such as forest, grassland or tundra - toward another, according to a new NASA and university computer modelling study.
Friday, December 16, 2011 Bright Future for Solar
The efficiency of conventional solar cells could be significantly increased, according to new research on the mechanisms of solar energy conversion led by chemist Xiaoyang Zhu at The University of Texas at Austin.
Thursday, December 15, 2011 Rocky Anderson: Rachel Maddow Interview (2 comments)
"The American people want this option," Anderson told Maddow. "They need a choice. What they've seen from the Democratic and Republican parties--where they've brought this country--is absolutely tragic."--Rocky Anderson. Your next President? If nothing else, watch the Rachel Maddow video, start around 3:23 to spare your sanity.
Thursday, December 15, 2011 Nukes are 100% Safe! (from The Onion)
[humor]...officials from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission sought Thursday to reassure nervous Americans that U.S. reactors were 100 percent safe and posed absolutely no threat to the public health...
Thursday, December 15, 2011 New Drug may Prevent Alzheimer's Progression (6 comments)
A new drug candidate may be the first capable of halting the devastating mental decline of Alzheimer's disease, based on the findings of a study published in PLoS ONE.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011 Hundreds of Threatened Species not on List
Many of the animal species at risk of extinction in the United States have not made it onto the country's official Endangered Species Act (ESA) list, according to new research from the University of Adelaide. [One species that clearly should be on the list is Homo sapiens; it is but a matter of time if we don't change course, rapidly and dramatically.]
Tuesday, December 13, 2011 Myths about Gender and Math Debunked (3 comments)
A major study of recent international data on school mathematics performance casts doubt on some common assumptions about gender and math achievement -- in particular, the idea that girls and women have less ability due to a difference in biology.
Monday, December 12, 2011 The Time Has Come: Justice Party USA (4 comments)
On Monday, December 12, 2011 at 2:00 PM, a diverse group of courageous citizens will announce the formation the Justice Party, which is envisioned as a major new political party for decades to come. The Justice Party seeks governing authority at the local, state, Congressional and national levels, beginning in the 2012 election cycle. The Justice Party is being created as a new 21st -century political vehicle to allow all citizens to work together to bring innovative results-oriented, justice-based solutions to the political debate as soon as possible.
Monday, December 12, 2011 Welcome to the Planet of Weeds (1 comments)
Scientists have used satellite data from NASA-built Landsat missions to confirm that more than 20 years of warming temperatures in northern Quebec, Canada, have resulted in an increase in the amount and extent of shrubs and grasses.
Saturday, December 10, 2011 Spike in Greenland Ice Loss Lifted Bedrock
An unusually hot melting season in 2010 accelerated ice loss in southern Greenland by 100 billion tons -- and large portions of the island's bedrock rose an additional quarter of an inch in response.
Saturday, December 10, 2011 Rapid Climate Change Coming to Your Home? (2 comments)
"What is the dangerous level of global warming?" Some have suggested limiting warming to 2 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial times in order to avert catastrophic change. But Hansen said that warming of 2 degrees Celsius would lead to drastic changes, such as significant ice sheet loss in Greenland and Antarctica.
Saturday, December 10, 2011 Frustration Builds As Climate Talks Go into Overtime (2 comments)
After 12 days of wrangling, UN climate talks went into extra time Friday with China, the US and India under pressure to back a European bid for a new worldwide pact on greenhouse gases.
Thursday, December 8, 2011 Solar Power Less Expensive than Analysts Purport
Dr. Pearce is certain that solar photovoltaic systems are near a "tipping point' at which point they will be able to produce energy for approximately the same price as traditional sources of energy, and are at that point in places.
Thursday, December 8, 2011 The Heartbreaking Upper Big Branch Mine Settlement (2 comments)
Two hundred ten million dollars. It sounds like a lot of money. It's blood money of course, and on one level it represents business as usual in coal country: mine disasters occur because no one is looking out for the little guy, and then some corporate entity pays.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011 Global Winds, Record Rains, Tornadoes
A superjet and its circulating winds carry roughly twice as much energy as a typical jet stream, Martin says. "When these usually separate jet streams sit atop one another, there tends to be a very strong vertical circulation, which produces clouds, precipitation and tornadoes under the right conditions."
Tuesday, December 6, 2011 Global Carbon Emissions Reach 10 Billion Tons
Global carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels have increased by 49 per cent in the last two decades, according to the latest figures by an international team.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011 Earth-like Planet in Habitable Zone of Sun-like Star
The most Earth-like planet ever discovered is circling a star 600 light years away, a key finding in an ongoing quest to learn if life exists beyond Earth, scientists said on Monday.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011 Heartbreak Awaits Republicans Who Love Gingrich
Gingrich's fans say that he isn't the same man he was then; he has "matured" in his 60s. Maybe so. But he's still erratic: This year he flip-flopped three times on the top issue of the day, the House Republican plan to reform Medicare. He's still undisciplined: He went on a vacation cruise at the start of his campaign. He still has the same old grandiosity: In recent weeks he has compared himself to Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher and said confidently that the nomination was his.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011 Rocky Anderson for President
Rocky Anderson, mayor of Salt Lake City, UT, is a rare and staunch critic of the 'culture of obedience', and a clear voice calling for government accountability.
I say, down with all current politicians, up with Rocky Anderson. Think about it: how cool would that be, having a president called Rocky?
[If View Article doesn't work, try this:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2354158620]
Sunday, December 4, 2011 Astronomers Find 18 New Planets (2 comments)
Discoveries of new planets just keep coming and coming. Take, for instance, the 18 recently found by a team of astronomers led by scientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).
Saturday, December 3, 2011 No more "Mr. Nice Guy"; Dingbats as Usual (1 comments)
Observers suggest that now candidates are desperate to control the conversation... Negative campaigning allows them to do just that.
"It's not some newspaper's choice. It's your choice," Mackowiak said of the attack strategy. He also noted that candidates "can also choose the field upon which battle is being fought" and select an attack topic tailored to give them a competitive advantage.
Saturday, December 3, 2011 Drop in CO2 = Creation of Polar Ice Sheet (5 comments)
The key role of the greenhouse gas in one of the biggest climate events in Earth's history supports carbon dioxide's importance in past climate change and implicates it as a significant force in present and future climate.
Friday, December 2, 2011 The President I Want in Office (3 comments)
And you will too, once you do your homework: As Mayor, Anderson rose to nationwide prominence as a champion of several national and international causes, including climate protection, immigration reform, restorative criminal justice, GLBT rights, and an end to the "war on drugs". Before and after the invasion by the U.S. of Iraq in 2003, Anderson was a leading opponent of the invasion and occupation of Iraq and related human rights abuses. Anderson was the only mayor of a major U.S. city who advocated for the impeachment of President George W. Bush, which he did in many venues throughout the United States.
Friday, December 2, 2011 Fukushima May Well be Forever
At least as far as humans are concerned: Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) said in a report that fuel inside reactor No 1 appeared to have dropped through its inner pressure vessel and into the outer containment vessel, indicating that the accident was more severe than first thought.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 Marine Biodiversity Loss: Global Warming & Predation (6 comments)
The biodiversity loss caused by climate change will result from a combination of rising temperatures and predation -- and may be more severe than currently predicted, according to a study by University of British Columbia zoologist Christopher Harley.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 Ron Paul, 2012 (4 comments)
Ron Paul's "Plan to Restore America" slams on the brakes and puts America on a return to constitutional government. It is bold but achievable. Through the bully pulpit of the presidency, the power of the Veto, and, most importantly, the united voice of freedom-loving Americans, we can implement fundamental reforms.
Note: Substantiated feedback greatly appreciated on this one. Thanks, DG.
Saturday, November 26, 2011 Climate Sensitivity to CO2 More Limited than Extreme Projections? (9 comments)
A new study suggests that the rate of global warming from doubling of atmospheric carbon dioxide may be less than the most dire estimates of some previous studies -- and, in fact, may be less severe than projected by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report in 2007. [My comment below.]
Friday, November 25, 2011 Shocking Truth About the Occupy Crackdown
US citizens of all political persuasions are still reeling from images of unparallelled police brutality in a coordinated crackdown against peaceful OWS protesters in cities across the nation this past week. An elderly woman was pepper-sprayed in the face; the scene of unresisting, supine students at UC Davis being pepper-sprayed by phalanxes of riot police went viral online; images proliferated of young women -- targeted seemingly for their gender -- screaming, dragged by the hair by police in riot gear; and the pictures of a young man, stunned and bleeding profusely from the head, emerged in the record of the middle-of-the-night clearing of Zuccotti Park.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011 Improving Lithium Batteries (2 comments)
Company founder Ann Marie Sastry provided a few details on the work Sakti3 is doing to make a battery that will double the energy density compared with existing lithium ion batteries during a talk at the EmTech conference at MIT today. Satki3's ambitions offer a view into how emerging solid-state battery technology could accelerate electric vehicle sales and make batteries for electronics cheaper and longer lasting.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011 New Material can Enhance Energy, Computer, Lighting Technologies
ASU electrical engineering professor Cun-Zheng Ning says the material, called erbium chloride silicate, can be used to develop the next generations of computers, improve the capabilities of the Internet, increase the efficiency of silicon-based photovoltaic cells to convert sunlight into electrical energy, and enhance the quality of solid-state lighting and sensor technology.
Monday, November 21, 2011 CIA Spies Caught, Fear Execution in Middle East
In a significant failure for the United States, more than a dozen spies working for the CIA in Iran and Lebanon have been caught and the U.S. government fears they will be or have been executed, according to four current and former U.S. officials with connections to the intelligence community. [Tragic, but I submit that the larger failure is that we're there at all.]
Monday, November 21, 2011 5 Toxic Energy Companies Control Congress
Energy companies continue to rake in massive profits. They use this wealth to leverage elections, write legislation, scale back regulations and escape accountability. [Long article, easily skimmed; you've heard the names, here's one authors specific list, with reasons.]
Sunday, November 20, 2011 Heart Warming Indeed! by Tink on Open Salon (3 comments)
Open Salon had an "all call" for "Heart Warming Holiday Stories." This guy is one of the funniest writers I've ever come across. Reading this one is bound to get you in the proper mood for "the real Yuletide Season."
Saturday, November 19, 2011 SOS! We Are The Future of Occupy (1 comments)
As the Occupy movement eases past the two-month mark, everyone seems to be discussing the future of the Occupation. Individual trends and motivations are apparent for each of the major groups involved in the conversation, but a common theme has also emerged. Setting aside the obvious positions of those holding pro- and anti-Occupation positions, it's important to address the complaints of two major groups that remain; the political pundits and the government.
Saturday, November 19, 2011 In Pursuit of Petroleum Pigs: Excerpt from Greg Palast Book
In the Old Days, as today, the peoples on the edge of the Arctic Sea killed whales. It's just what they do. It's what they eat. But the Green People didn't like that, and so the Green People set out one day in their fancy-ass black powerboat to stop the people of the Arctic Sea from doing their whale killing thing. Note: I don't believe in posting articles without reading the whole thing; but I didn't have time just now, yet felt the first page here is A+ and well worth the read. DG
Saturday, November 19, 2011 Let There Be Light! (3 comments)
Scientists at Chalmers have succeeded in creating light from vacuum -- observing an effect first predicted over 40 years ago. In an innovative experiment, the scientists have managed to capture some of the photons that are constantly appearing and disappearing in the vacuum.
Friday, November 18, 2011 Did GW Kill the Super(idiot)committee?
The odds of the congressional supercommittee striking a debt reduction deal before next week's deadline are fading by the hour, and for good reason: Democrats seem to be realizing just how much leverage they really have.
Friday, November 18, 2011 We Are All Occupiers
Arundhati Roy, one my favorite people on the planet, speaks out: Tuesday morning, the police cleared Zuccotti Park, but today the people are back. The police should know that this protest is not a battle for territory. We're not fighting for the right to occupy a park here or there. We are fighting for justice. Justice, not just for the people of the United States, but for everybody.
Friday, November 18, 2011 6 Great Alternatives to Netflix
On Monday, Netflix reported losing more than 800,000 subscribers since the company announced a 60% price increase, which went into effect in September. If you're one of these Netflix customers who couldn't seem to rationalize the hike, you're probably exploring other options.
Claimer and disclaimer: I've been over the top with frustration of Netflix videos pooping out in the most exciting part of the video; I haven't tried an alternative yet, but am considering the ones mentioned here. Feedback welcome.
(I know, I should read a book--and I do, but that is usually later, in bed.)
Wednesday, November 16, 2011 Erratic, Extreme Weather Highlights Climate Change
The first climate study to focus on variations in daily weather conditions has found that day-to-day weather has grown increasingly erratic and extreme, with significant fluctuations in sunshine and rainfall affecting more than a third of the planet.
Clearly, the conspiracy precipitated by Al Gore continues!
Saturday, November 12, 2011 New Government Mascot
I've read that Ben Franklin advocated avidly for the Turkey over the Eagle, but here's why we can do even better. Succinct humor.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011 "Warming Deniers": Ignorant or Liars? (1 comments)
The question could scarcely be more important. If man-made climate change is happening, as the great majority of the world's climatologists claim, it could destroy the conditions that allow human beings to remain on the planet. The effort to cut greenhouse gases must come before everything else. This won't happen unless we can be confident that the science is right.
Sunday, November 6, 2011 Cheap Lighting: A Short Video
Ultra cheap but effective lighting, major hit in the Philippines and spreading rapidly.
Sunday, November 6, 2011 Temple Grandin, A Hero For The World, Comes To Salt Lake
If you aren't familiar with Temple Grandin, it may be time to do so. Labelled "retarded" when younger, she is now called one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Overcoming, or learning to understand, her own autism, she has gone on to do amazing things, including redesigning over half of American feedlots, to make them more humane. In this short video, she is talking to students in Salt Lake. Recommended also: the Temple Grandin video, acted by Clair Danes.
Friday, November 4, 2011 Homeless Marine Species
Rising temperatures will force many species of animals and plants to move to other regions and could leave some marine species with nowhere to go, according to new research just published in the journal Science.
Friday, November 4, 2011 Greenhouse Gases Astronomical Rise
The global output of heat-trapping carbon dioxide has jumped by a record amount, according to the US department of energy, a sign of how feeble the world's efforts are at slowing man-made global warming. The figures for 2010 mean that levels of greenhouse gases are higher than the worst case scenario outlined by climate experts just four years ago.
Friday, November 4, 2011 Our Shining Gun Barrels On The Hill
U.S. Special Operations Forces killed well over 1,500 civilians in night raids in less than 10 months in 2010 and early 2011, analysis of official statistics on the raids released by the U.S.-NATO command reveals. That number would make U.S. night raids by far the largest cause of civilian casualties in the war in Afghanistan.
Thursday, November 3, 2011 Humans/ Climate Contributed To Extinctions Of Ice Age Mammals
The genetic history of six large herbivores -- the woolly rhinoceros, woolly mammoth, wild horse, reindeer, bison, and musk ox -- has shown that both climate change and humans were responsible for the extinction or near extinction of large mammal populations within the last 10,000 years. The study, which is the first to use genetic, archeological, and climatic data together to infer the population history of large-bodied Ice Age mammals, will be published in the journal Nature.
Thursday, November 3, 2011 50 Ways To Leave Your Banker (4 comments)
At last count, Steven Katz owed $80,000 on his six credit cards, and he has no intention of paying any of it off. In fact, he'd like to show you how to be like him--a "credit terrorist" in open revolt against the banking system.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011 Forests Not Keeping Pace With Climate Change (4 comments)
More than half of eastern U.S. tree species examined in a massive new Duke University-led study aren't adapting to climate change as quickly or consistently as predicted.
Monday, October 31, 2011 Bona Fide Crystal Ball: Your Future From Ocean Floor!
While high atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide caused Late Cretaceous warmth, MacLeod notes that ocean circulation influenced how that warmth was distributed around the globe. Further, ocean circulation patterns changed significantly as the climate warmed and cooled.
"Understanding the degree to which climate influences circulation and vice versa is important today because carbon dioxide levels are rapidly approaching levels most recently seen during ancient greenhouse times," said MacLeod. "In just a few decades, humans are causing changes in the composition of the atmosphere that are as large as the changes that took millions of years to occur during geological climate cycles."
Monday, October 31, 2011 Famous Turd Speaks From Msm Punch Bowl
Ann Coulter: The most damning part of the report, which is not well sourced, seems to be that Mr. Cain made "physical gestures" that weren't sexual in nature, but made the women uncomfortable: There were also descriptions of physical gestures that were not overtly sexual but that made women who experienced or witnessed them uncomfortable and that they regarded as improper in a professional relationship.
Friday, October 28, 2011 Exemplary Teaching (Forget Whatever Else You've Heard) (7 comments)
The crowd of first and second graders huddling on the playground is my first clue that something is up. Shrieks of delight, then groans of disgust, then screams and girls running in different directions.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011 Extreme Melting On Greenland Ice Sheet (3 comments)
The Greenland ice sheet can experience extreme melting even when temperatures don't hit record highs, according to a new analysis by Dr. Marco Tedesco, assistant professor in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at The City College of New York. His findings suggest that glaciers could undergo a self-amplifying cycle of melting and warming that would be difficult to halt.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011 Your Taxes At Work: Republican Book Deal
Records indicate that taxpayers are helping pay for an upcoming book about the Republican Party's takeover of the Alabama Legislature. The book, to be called "Storm In The State House," reportedly will focus on Mike Hubbard's exploits as party chair from 2007 through 2010--and as speaker of the house in 2011.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011 Police Push Me To The Ground, By Kevin Army, W/ Video
Today is a sad day in the city I love, Oakland. This morning at 2:45 AM I received a text message that a raid was imminent at the Occupy Oakland camp at Frank Ogawa Plaza. I had promised myself I would go any hour of the day. I believe in the importance of this story, I believe in the value of the independent press to document what goes on.
Monday, October 24, 2011 Graphic Info On OWS Origins
What are the Occupy Wall Street protesters angry about? The same things we're all angry about. The only difference is the protestors turned their anger into public action. Occupy Wall Street lit the embers and the sparks are flying. Whether it turns into a genuine populist prairie fire depends on all of us. Just a skim of the headings and graphs is worth a look.
Sunday, October 23, 2011 American Hypocrisy At Its Finest (1 comments)
Seven minute video sums up the hypocrisy in our present day government.
Friday, October 21, 2011 Rivers & Streams Influence Co2
Ecologists analyzed data from samples of more than 4,000 rivers and streams throughout the United States, and incorporated detailed geospatial data to model the flux of carbon dioxide from water. This release is equal to a car burning 40 billion gallons of gasoline, enough to drive back and forth to the moon 3.4 million times.
Friday, October 21, 2011 No Basis For "climate Skeptic Concerns"
Climate sceptics' criticisms of the evidence for global warming make no difference to the emerging picture of a warming world, according to the most comprehensive, independent review of historical temperature records to date.
Friday, October 21, 2011 Cool News For Warming Skeptics
Global warming is real, according to a major study released Oct. 20. Despite issues raised by climate change skeptics, the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature study finds reliable evidence of a rise in the average world land temperature of approximately 1 °C since the mid-1950s.
Friday, October 21, 2011 Ozone Hole Over Antarctica
The Antarctic ozone hole, which yawns wide every Southern Hemisphere spring, reached its annual peak on September 12, stretching 10.05 million square miles, the ninth largest on record. Above the South Pole, the ozone hole reached its deepest point of the season on October 9 when total ozone readings dropped to 102 Dobson units, tied for the 10th lowest in the 26-year record.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011 Permanent Ecosystem Disruption
An eight-year study has concluded that increasingly frequent and severe drought, dropping water tables and dried-up springs have pushed some aquatic desert ecosystems into "catastrophic regime change," from which many species will not recover.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011 Future Forests to Soak up More CO2 Than Thought?
North American forests appear to have a greater capacity to soak up heat-trapping carbon dioxide gas than researchers had previously anticipated. As a result, they could help slow the pace of human-caused climate warming more than most scientists had thought, a U-M ecologist and his colleagues have concluded.
