Rationally Thinking Out Loud

What I’m Reading, Tuesday, May 21, 2013

J. Jerrald Hayes — Tue, 21 May 2013 14:30:36 +0000

Climate & Climate Politics

Chris Christie Denies Climate Change Has Anything To Do With Hurricane Sandy | ThinkProgress

No there is no clear solid direct link between climate change and Hurricane Sandy but Chris Christie (who I usually give more credit to in terms of his rational intelligence) needs to wake up. NASA Climate Scientist James Hansen (along with associates Makiko Satoa & Reto Ruedy) publish a paper that does explain how that connection while not direct is really about probabilities: Perceptions of Climate Change: The New Climate Dice.

Quoting a passage from the ThinkProgress article linked to above:

…Of course, this isn’t about whether Sandy was “caused” by climate change. It’s about whether climate change and sea level rise are making such storms more frequent and much more destructive (see links below) — and that is something we can plan for.

More related articles for Mr. Christie should review to begin his journey towards getting better information:

Science

Politics

What I’m Reading, Monday, May 20, 2013

J. Jerrald Hayes — Mon, 20 May 2013 21:59:19 +0000

Climate & Climate Politics

Either he is genuinely naive and scientifically ignorant or he’s a professional propagandist who will out right lie to support his politcal position (I think it’s the later) here is the latest POS from the Daily Caller’s Michael Bastasch: Global warming? Not so fast | The Daily Caller
And heres more of that old it hasn’t warmed since 1998 trope this time from Reason magazine: With ‘Standstill’ in Global Warming, Climate Scientists Reconsider Projections – Reason 24/7 : Reason.com you would think that these supposedly intelligent people working at the Daily Caller and Reason would have done some research that that argument was debunked years ago (at least as far back as 2006)…
And Sarah Palin continues to demonstrate her partisan idiocy too: Everyone relax, Sarah Palin has proven there’s no such thing as climate change | Grist
7 Very Wrong Things About Climate Science And Energy In House Science Chair Lamar Smith’s WashPost Op-Ed | ThinkProgress
Guess who voted against emergency management & disaster relief? » The Zingularity

Oklahoma ranks third in the nation on disaster relief. That puts an unwelcome spotlight on two of the slimiest purportedly God fear’n denizens in DC. US Senators Tom Coburn and Jim Inhofe have more than anti-science lunacy and extreme right-wing fundamentalism in common. Both these clowns are deficit hawks who have repeatedly voted against disaster relief and tried to kill funding for FEMA:

HuffPo – Late last year, Inhofe and Coburn both backed a plan to slash disaster relief to victims of Hurricane Sandy. In a December press release, Coburn complained that the Sandy Relief bill contained “wasteful spending,” and identified a series of items he objected to, including “$12.9 billion for future disaster mitigation activities and studies.”

In 2011, both senators opposed legislation that would have granted necessary funding for FEMA when the agency was set to run out of money. Sending the funds to FEMA would have been “unconscionable,” Coburn said at the time.

Representatives for Inhofe and Coburn could not immediately be reached for comment Monday evening. Inhofe earlier tweeted: “The devastation in Oklahoma is heartbreaking. Please join me and #PrayforOklahoma. Spread the word.”

Oh, we’re gonna spread the word alright fellas, count on it.
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What I’m Reading, Sunday, May 19, 2013

J. Jerrald Hayes — Sun, 19 May 2013 16:18:53 +0000

Dangerous Right Wing Paranoia, Hate Speech, and Lunacy

Pete Santilli, Radio Host: Hillary Clinton Needs To Be ‘Shot In The Vagina’
Radio Host Frequented By Gun Activists Calls For Shooting of Bush Family & Obama, Sexual Violence Against Hillary Clinton | Right Wing Watch
In one of the online construction forums I used to visit from time to time a nut case there just posted a link to a film by produced and directed by the wingnut and onetime state Rep. Curtis Bowers…

If someone has 90 minutes to spare, they should watch this movie, AGENDA: Grinding America Down.

http://vimeo.com/63749370

Believe me you really don’t want to waste 90 minutes of life with that insane paranoid garbage so just waste 6 minutes or so taking a look at the trailer: Trailer | Agenda: Grinding America Down (Documentary DVD). Unbelievable but right wing kooks like this do exist and they have a voice.
Cathie Adams: UN Climate Change Treaty Is the New World Order | Right Wing Watch

Politics

ABC’s Jonathan Karl: Yes, the Story Was False but It “Entirely Stands” – Little Green Footballs

Climate & Climate Politics

What I’m Reading, Saturday, May 18, 2013

J. Jerrald Hayes — Sun, 19 May 2013 01:56:23 +0000

Climate & Climate Politics

What I’m Reading, Friday, May 17, 2013

J. Jerrald Hayes — Fri, 17 May 2013 18:14:38 +0000

Science

Scientists create human embryos to make stem cells – latimes.com
Could extinct woolly mammoth soon be revived using fossil DNA? – latimes.com

Will scientists soon be able to revive the long-extinct woolly mammoth? What about the dodo, the Chinese river dolphin or the saber-toothed cat?

With the great technological leaps forward over the past decade, bringing back dead-and-gone species using DNA preserved in fossils might be possible in the near future, researchers said this month at a TEDx event in Washington, D.C.

That doesn’t mean Jurassic Park will ever become a reality;scientists recently calculated DNA’s half-life to be 521 years, which means that dinosaur DNA could not have survived from their extinction 65 million years ago. But perhaps the makers of the animated movie “Ice Age” may have an excuse to write yet another sequel.

“The revival of an extinct species is actually within reach,” Hendrik Poinar, an evolutionary biologist at McMaster University in Canada, said at the event.

(read the comomplete article…)
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