Surely Jesus is hypoallergenic?
Seen on a Facebook status update:
I’m wondering if any of my pastor colleagues have some suggestions for serving the Eucharist to the gluten intolerant members of the church?
Am I the only one who finds this funny?
music: American music bluegrass genius
by Warren
leave a comment
Meta
SiteMeter
Brighter Planet
Strings Of Genius…
Ralph Stanley with “The Angel Band”:
environment Politics: Arctic ice melt assholes denialists idiots military Republicans
by Warren
leave a comment
Meta
SiteMeter
Brighter Planet
Year 3, Month 4, Day 26: If I Make My Lips Go B-B-B-B-B-B, I Can Pretend To Be A Motorcycle
More on the military plans for a transformed climate, from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Russia, Canada and the United States have the biggest stakes in the Arctic. With its military budget stretched thin by Iraq, Afghanistan and more pressing issues elsewhere, the United States has been something of a reluctant northern power, though its nuclear-powered submarine fleet, which can navigate for months underwater and below the ice cap, remains second to none.
Russia — one-third of which lies within the Arctic Circle — has been the most aggressive in establishing itself as the emerging region’s superpower.
Rob Huebert, an associate political science professor at the University of Calgary in Canada, said Russia has recovered enough from its economic troubles of the 1990s to significantly rebuild its Arctic military capabilities, which were a key to the overall Cold War strategy of the Soviet Union, and has increased its bomber patrols and submarine activity.
He said that has in turn led other Arctic countries — Norway, Denmark and Canada — to resume regional military exercises that they had abandoned or cut back on after the Soviet collapse. Even non-Arctic nations such as France have expressed interest in deploying their militaries to the Arctic.
Don’t ask me to explain the headline of this post. Sent April 17:
It was a mantra for Republicans when discussing proposals to end America’s involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan: the only authorities worth consulting were the “generals in the field.” But conservatives don’t always revere military opinion. Those same lawmakers will certainly do their best to ignore the fact that our armed forces are hard at work, planning for a geopolitical future transformed by climate change.
Because, of course, it’s another conservative mantra: climate change isn’t real (if it is real, it’s a socialist conspiracy; scientists want to raise our taxes!). Given that the loudest voices rejecting the science of global warming belong to the senators and representatives who once vociferously touted the ultimate authority of our military leaders, how can these legislators possibly recognize the existence of the U.S. Navy’s task force on climate change?
Wouldn’t it be nice if environmental policy was based on scientific reality instead of political ideology?
Warren Senders
environment Politics: coral ecosystems oceanic acidification oceanic warming
by Warren
leave a comment
Meta
SiteMeter
Brighter Planet
Year 3, Month 4, Day 25: Nothin’s Gonna Bother Me Atoll…
The Wyndham Weekly (Austrialia) writes about a newly released study that suggests coral may have a hope in hell after all:
Rising ocean temperatures caused by climate change are unlikely to mean the end of the coral on the Great Barrier Reef, according to a new scientific study.
The Cell Press journal Current Biology this morning published what it says is the first large-scale investigation of climate effects on corals and found while some corals were dying, others were flourishing and adapting to the change in water temperatures.
For the study researchers identified and measured more than 35,000 coral colonies on 33 reefs across the length of the Great Barrier Reef to see how they were responding to warming ocean waters.
In results they have described as ‘‘surprising’’ the study found while one species declined in abundance, other species could rise in number.
One of the researchers, Professor Terry Hughes from James Cook University, said while critical issues remained he now believed rising temperatures were unlikely to mean the end of the coral reef.
‘‘The good news is that, rather than experiencing wholesale destruction, many coral reefs will survive climate change by changing the mix of coral species as the ocean warms and becomes more acidic,’’ he said.
‘‘That’s important for people who rely on the rich and beautiful coral reefs of today for food, tourism, and other livelihoods.’’
He said earlier studies of climate change and corals had been done on a much smaller geographical scale, with a primary focus on total coral cover or counts of species as rather crude indicators of reef health.
The problem with good news… Sent April 15:
While a recently released study on coral reefs’ potential for survival in a climate-transformed world reassuringly suggests that oceanic acidification and global warming may not mean extinction, it should prompt us all to work harder on controlling and reducing the planetary greenhouse effect. Gigantic coral colonies like the Great Barrier Reef may well continue living even as their ability to form structures is compromised by higher pH seawater — but this good news cannot be our civilization’s newest excuse for inaction.
Just as the long-term health and prosperity of coral reefs is compromised by climate change, humanity will find its long-term health and prosperity to be surprisingly vulnerable. While we clever apes will surely figure out ways to go on living, our species faces significant dangers from the rapidly emerging effects of the past century’s worth of atmospherized carbon. In the long run, perhaps we are all coral.
Warren Senders
environment Politics: armed forces assholes denialists idiots military Republicans
by Warren
leave a comment
Meta
SiteMeter
Brighter Planet
Year 3, Month 4, Day 24: Paisley and Patchouli
The Minnesota Star-Tribune addresses the newest addition to the Hippie Ranks:
YOKOSUKA, Japan — To the world’s military leaders, the debate over climate change is long over. They are preparing for a new kind of Cold War in the Arctic, anticipating that rising temperatures there will open up a treasure trove of resources, long-dreamed-of sea lanes and a slew of potential conflicts.
By Arctic standards, the region is already buzzing with military activity, and experts believe that will increase significantly in the years ahead.
Last month, Norway wrapped up one of the largest Arctic maneuvers ever — Exercise Cold Response — with 16,300 troops from 14 countries training on the ice for everything from high intensity warfare to terror threats. Attesting to the harsh conditions, five Norwegian troops were killed when their C-130 Hercules aircraft crashed near the summit of Kebnekaise, Sweden’s highest mountain.
The U.S., Canada and Denmark held major exercises two months ago, and in an unprecedented move, the military chiefs of the eight main Arctic powers — Canada, the U.S., Russia, Iceland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland — gathered at a Canadian military base last week to specifically discuss regional security issues.
I ought to be able to get a couple more letters out of this story. It’d be fun to mock Darrell Issa even if there was no climate crisis. Sent April 16:
If we are to judge by their plans and strategic preparations, there’s no doubt that America’s military establishment is taking climate change seriously.
This raises the troubling possibility that the armed forces have been infiltrated by an international conspiracy of climate scientists, tree-hugging environmentalists, and socialist college professors, in which case we can expect soldiers to start confiscating SUVs and hauling their drivers off to compulsory re-education camps. This is surely an obvious place for a stalwart anti-environmentalist like Representative Darrell Issa to start an investigation. The House Oversight Committee, which Issa chairs, needs to start issuing subpoenas; let’s get to the bottom of this!
But wait — could it be that military analysts know something these legislators don’t? Perhaps in their eagerness to pander to the tea-partiers in their district, congressional climate-change denialists have been ignoring facts that don’t suit their ideologies. Perhaps the corporations that fund their campaigns have more influence on our lawmakers than the opinions of our nation’s military leaders.
I don’t know. Sounds pretty far-fetched to me.
Warren Senders
atheism Education: doubt evangelicals
by Warren
leave a comment
Meta
SiteMeter
Brighter Planet
Very Powerful…
I never had to go through much of this stuff. I was raised a freethinker by scientific parents, and I had almost no content with mainstream Xtianity when I was growing up. Nobody in our family or community circles ever asked about religion; open religious advocacy would have been considered bizarre.
I was bullied in school and hated every bit of it — but this is bullying of a whole different order. This kind of bullying starts at birth.
How appalling.
environment Politics: assholes denialists idiots irresponsibility James Hansen scientific consensus
by Warren
2 comments
Meta
SiteMeter
Brighter Planet
Year 3, Month 4, Day 23: Houston, You Have A Problem…
The Houston Chronicle reports on the latest cloud of bafflegab from the denialist masterminds:
Four dozen former NASA astronauts, engineers and scientists have written a letter to the space agency decrying its advocacy of “catastrophic” climate change.
“As former NASA employees, we feel that NASA’s advocacy of an extreme position, prior to a thorough study of the possible overwhelming impact of natural climate drivers is inappropriate,” states the letter, addressed to administrator Charles Bolden.
“We request that NASA refrain from including unproven and unsupported remarks in its future releases and websites on this subject.”
Among the signatories are seven Apollo astronauts, including Harrison “Jack” Schmitt and Walt Cunningham, and two former directors of Johnson Space Center.
Although not explicitly named in their letter, the 49 signatories are unhappy with the outspoken head of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, James Hansen, who is one of the world’s most prominent climate scientists.
Jackasses. Sent April 14:
When a planetary physician of the highest possible stature excoriates those who are hindering meaningful action on climate change, it’s news. “A moral issue comparable with slavery” — strong words from James Hansen, a man with unimpeachable scientific credentials and a self-evident ethical core. How can those poor oppressed conservative think-tanks fight back? It’s a standard move in the climate-change denial business: when something happens that might move public opinion even a little bit toward recognition of a global emergency, they’ll launch a Letter Signed By Many People (LSBMP).
Dr. Hansen is a NASA employee? They’ll counter with an LSBMP signed by forty-nine NASA astronauts and engineers (including a few scientists for good measure). Sounds impressive, but none of the signatories are climate scientists. Their use of the LSBMP to deliver spurious expertise confirms the moral force of Dr. Hansen’s argument. The scientific argument, of course, was settled long ago.
Warren Senders
environment Politics: sustainability technology
by Warren
leave a comment
Meta
SiteMeter
Brighter Planet
Year 3, Month 4, Day 22: I’m Waiting To Pay Off My Credit Cards Until After I Win A MacArthur. What?
Cute. The Toronto Star looks at direct carbon capture from the atmosphere, leading with a cat:
Sometimes when your cat jumps on a neighbour’s rooftop it can lead to good things.
That’s how it worked for Graciela Chichilnisky, co-founder and managing director of New York City-based Global Thermostat. Chichilnisky’s five-year-old company is one of a handful of start-ups looking for a low-cost way of capturing carbon dioxide directly out of the air.
Such a solution would certainly be welcome in the battle against human-caused climate change, and Global Thermostat thinks it has the right approach. It uses waste heat from fossil-fuelled power plants and industrial facilities – and even thermal energy from concentrated solar power plants—to activate its carbon-capture process.
Its easier said than done, of course. The road from idea to development to demonstration to commercial production is a long and expensive one.
We need resources in these technologies, yes — but we can’t avoid necessary changes in our own ways of life, either. Sent April 12:
The field of direct atmospheric carbon capture holds enormous promise for the long-term prosperity and happiness of our species. But the prospect of a technological fix sometime in the next half-century does not excuse us from the immediate demands made by an imminent planetary crisis. We must begin transforming our energy economy from fossil fuels to renewables, transforming our food economy to reduce the impact of GHG-heavy meat farming, and transforming ourselves into a culture focused on the long-term consequences of our decisions.
Furthermore, if we place our hopes in technological wizardry, we’ve got to put our wallets there too. All the brilliant engineers in the world won’t accomplish a thing if they’re not funded adequately, and when solutions emerge to the ongoing disaster of global climate change, they’ll need economic support on an unprecedented scale.
Yes, it’s going to be expensive — but nowhere near as costly as failure.
Warren Senders
Education music: acoustics physics of sound tone
by Warren
leave a comment
Meta
SiteMeter
Brighter Planet
Pulse to Pitch, Series Two: Simple Harmonic Intervals
Here is another series of videos demonstrating the transformation of simple rhythmic ratios into pitch relationships.
These show the following ratios:
2:1
3:2
4:3
5:4
5:3
Yielding octaves, fifths, fourths, major thirds and major sixths respectively. The next set of videos will show more of the two voice intervals…stay tuned!
===========================================================
Rhythmic octaves
===========================================================
Two against three — turns into a perfect fifth.
===========================================================
Four against three — turns into a perfect fourth.
===========================================================
Five against four — turns into a major third.
===========================================================
Five against three — turns into a major sixth.
environment Politics: agriculture oceanic acidification Oysters
by Warren
leave a comment
Meta
SiteMeter
Brighter Planet
Year 3, Month 4, Day 21: Shed A Bitter Tear
The Bend Bulleting (Central OR) runs a story from the Seattle Times concerning a little problem they’re having with Oysters. Hint: the phrase “dying by the billions” is not one you want to hear, unless it concerns plague bacteria:
Researchers for the first time have found definitive evidence that changing ocean chemistry from increased carbon-dioxide emissions are at least partially responsible for massive oyster die-offs in the Pacific Northwest.
The research published Wednesday by scientists from Seattle and Oregon State University is the first anywhere to show that increasingly corrosive seas already are killing marine organisms in North America.
“This is the smoking gun for oyster larvae,” said Richard Feely, an oceanographer and leading marine-chemistry researcher with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Seattle and one of the paper’s authors. “This is the clearest experimental evidence yet that lower pH is making oysters die.”
Said Alan Barton, another of the paper’s authors, “It’s now an incontrovertible fact that ocean chemistry is affecting our larvae.”
Since 2005, wild oysters along the Washington coast and oysters at a commercial shellfish hatchery in Oregon have been dying by the billions. Leading scientists long have suspected that one of the causes is the increasing corrosiveness of ocean waters that frequently rise up from the deep during high winds to lap against the shore.
How much more will it take? Sent April 12:
Sigh. Let’s put the news about oyster colony die-offs and ocean acidification on the pile, shall we? On the pile with fruit farmers in New England worrying about crop losses in the aftermath of a winter that wasn’t. On the pile with the projections of shrinking acreage available for chocolate cultivation in Africa. Put it on the pile with drastically reduced coffee yields, grain crops impacted by increasingly severe and unpredictable weather, trees infested by pine-borer beetles, and all the other ways in which climate change is affecting humanity’s prospects for the future.
And perhaps when the pile is big enough, our politicians will finally offer meaningful policy instead of empty theatrics. Perhaps the professional denialists in the media will stop trying to hinder America’s ability to respond to a clear and present danger. How much more evidence do they need?
Oysters, grain, fruit, coffee, and chocolate are local manifestations of a planetary emergency. Failure to recognize it as such is an error with grave implications — not just for our descendants, but for all life on Earth.
Warren Senders