Weights, Measures, and Esoterica

A movie I missed the first time

2012-02-02T21:42:00.000-08:00

I caught Adventureland a couple of nights ago on cable. I was surprised by this one, which I hadn't heard of when it came out. Kristen Stewart played her teen angst role again, very similar in tone to Bella Swan (without the blood overtones), not showing the range I know she has, like playing Joan Jett, for example. It was pretty good all around as a coming-of-age story, in which the coming-of-age character was played by Jesse Eisenberg in all his stutterish glory. I think the outstanding marks go the supporting cast, such as Ryan Reynolds, Bill Hader, and Kristen Wiig. And also a young gorgeous starlet about which I will write more in the next day or two.

Really got me that Adventureland scored 89% at RottenTomatoes.com. But I agreed with that score.

Just wait for it

2012-02-02T21:19:00.000-08:00

The changing pH of the oceans, in the direction of acidic (they are alkaline now, with surface pH around 8.2) is seen in this video animation. Wish Jo Nova would see this. When things start to change near the end of the period simulated, they start to change fast.

There aren't many better reasons for increased deployment of nuclear power generating plants.

Chinese cadmium pollution crisis, phase 3: finger-pointing

2012-02-01T12:56:00.000-08:00

Looks like the Chinese cadmium pollution crisis is moving on to the blame game. It's refreshing (and perhaps hopeful) to see the media getting indignant over this incident.

Chinese media blast officials over toxic river

"Local authorities need to investigate thoroughly the root cause of the incident. This incident should be a wake-up call to the rest of the country," it said in an editorial.

more:

"Activists say officials in China often turn a blind eye to industrial pollution or even collude with companies, as they seek to push forward local economic development at all costs."

France proposes world government

2012-02-01T12:52:00.000-08:00

Well, not really. But if you really want to have an international agency with cross-boundary power, that could carry out enforcement of environmental regs around the world, with enough force to make them stick and work, then you're giving the UN a lot stronger power than it has ever enjoyed before. And given the fisheries disaster that is unfolding tragically in the Southern Ocean, emblematic of the "everyone in it for themselves" parochial nationalistic mentalities, then many of us can see why such an environmental agency would be desirable.

100 countries back world environment agency: France

"But rather than be just a branch of the UN, the proposed agency would help implement international environmental standards and include grassroots groups and business, according to the proposal."

and more:

It should be part of a rethink of the world's economy, in which green issues and social questions should be integrated into the search for profit, she [French ecology minister Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet] said.

"The new capitalism which emerges from the crisis has to be environmental, or it won't be new," she said.

"We are looking for a new kind of environmental governance, something more inclusive, in which all parties have a stake and it's not just governments which have the right to speak."

Good luck with that. Good luck to us all, because this is what we need, right? The United States is obviously on board with this great idea, right?

Wrong. " the United States "has yet to back" to the proposal, citing questions of sovereignty."

With attitudes like that, the whole world could get considerably f*cked up.

Don't tell the kids - chocolate might really be good for you

2012-01-31T22:21:00.000-08:00

A recently published study (funded by the Mars candy company) has scientifically shown why some of the chemicals in chocolate are good for us.

When the kids are asking for that third chocolate bar, make sure they don't know about this.

Recent study by Mars underscores health benefits of cocoa flavanols

More on Chinese cadmium pollution scare

2012-01-31T22:03:00.000-08:00

Seems that the Chinese government was motivated to arrest some polluters after they (and other factories) dumped toxic cadmium in a river. It appears that the government is getting the message that if they don't take action against polluters, the public will take action against THEM.

China detains seven over river pollution scandal

"China has detained seven company executives after suspected industrial waste discharges polluted a river with toxic cadmium, threatening drinking supplies for millions, state media said Tuesday.

The discharges have contaminated a 100-kilometre (60-mile) stretch of the Longjiang River in the southern region of Guangxi, sparking panic buying of bottled water in nearby cities, the official China Daily reported.

Jinhe Mining Co. has been blamed for dumping cadmium -- a carcinogen which can seriously damage the kidneys, bones and respiratory system -- into the river, in a spill that was discovered on January 15. But the government has decided to widen the crackdown to go after other polluters, inspecting more than a dozen factories on the river and stopping production at seven plants.

Feng Zhennian, a local environment official, told reporters that seven executives from companies deemed responsible for polluting the river had been taken into custody, the state-run Xinhua news agency said late Monday."

Unfortunately for the polluters, the likeliest outcome in this situation for them, whether we like it or not, is execution. That's a little harsh in my book, but maybe not in the eyes of the people who want some action.

The state of Pains

2012-01-30T22:17:00.000-08:00

I really like "Royal Pains", but one of the reasons to like it is Jill Flint (who plays Jill Casey), and they're really underutilizing her. There should be more angst and more airtime in the Hank/Jill relationship. And there aren't enough hot pictures of her online.

Plus, whatever happened to Campbell Scott (Boris)? Has his new baby and life-threatening genetic unexplained illness been forgotten? Or is just taking it easy in Cuba?

Epochal tennis at Laver Arena

2012-01-29T23:13:00.000-08:00

OK, I'm disappointed for Maria Sharapova - again. Another 1st-timer denies her the completeness of the comeback. So now we'll have to see if the mercurial Serena Williams re-establishes her dominance again, or if the next few singles Slams for the women are a game of musical chairs, where about the only good predication I could make is that the last name of the winner will likely end in -a, probably -ova.

But my God, the Murray-Djokovic semi and the Nadal-Djokovic final were tennis for the ages. And both times Novak started down the barrel of defeat and refused to wilt. EVEN though I'm still pulling for Andy Murray to breakthrough the Big 3 and get his first one (Wimbledon would be the best, even if Scotland is making noises about exiting the U.K.), Djokovic was truly amazing to come out on top of both those amazing matches. Wow.

Another pollution crisis in China

2012-01-29T13:29:00.000-08:00

OK, so it's just cadmium, an extremely toxic metal. But this is another example of the dangers of the Chinese industrial complex running amok with little environmental regulation, sparking panic and fear in the public.

Thank the Lord that couldn't happen in the United States, because we've got the EPA looking out for us, with the force of LAW backing them up.

Nobody in politics would want to change that, would they?

Pollution sparks panic water buying in China

"Authorities found waste discharged into the Longjiang river by the Jinhe Mining Co caused excessive levels of cadmium some three times the government's accepted limit, the official Xinhua news agency said."

but no problem because

"However, Liuzhou officials said water quality in the area was "safe". Over the past week, firefighters had dumped chemicals aimed at neutralising the cadmium into the river.

According to the World Health Organization cadmium is a carcinogen which can seriously damage the kidneys, bones and respiratory system. It has several industrial applications, ranging from steel to batteries.

Three decades of rapid economic growth and lax enforcement of environmental protection laws have caused most waterways in China to be heavily contaminated with toxic waste from factories and farms."

No, OBVIOUSLY we wouldn't want to change the environmental protection laws in the U.S.

Obviously.

Zahia Dehar wears petals

2012-01-29T13:21:00.000-08:00

It takes a heck of body -- truly -- to pull this one off.

Zahia Dehar possesses one.

Now, who gets to pull this off?

Zahia in Paris haute couture

The usual suspects ride again

2012-01-29T07:13:00.000-08:00

BREAKING: Sixteen prominent scientists say that global warming is nothing to worry about!

Let's see who they are:

Claude Allegre, former director of the Institute for the Study of the Earth, University of Paris; J. Scott Armstrong, cofounder of the Journal of Forecasting and the International Journal of Forecasting; Jan Breslow, head of the Laboratory of Biochemical Genetics and Metabolism, Rockefeller University; Roger Cohen, fellow, American Physical Society; Edward David, member, National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Sciences; William Happer, professor of physics, Princeton; Michael Kelly, professor of technology, University of Cambridge, U.K.; William Kininmonth, former head of climate research at the Australian Bureau of Meteorology; Richard Lindzen, professor of atmospheric sciences, MIT; James McGrath, professor of chemistry, Virginia Technical University; Rodney Nichols, former president and CEO of the New York Academy of Sciences; Burt Rutan, aerospace engineer, designer of Voyager and SpaceShipOne; Harrison H. Schmitt, Apollo 17 astronaut and former U.S. senator; Nir Shaviv, professor of astrophysics, Hebrew University, Jerusalem; Henk Tennekes, former director, Royal Dutch Meteorological Service; Antonio Zichichi, president of the World Federation of Scientists, Geneva.

Richard Lindzen is a well-known U.S. skeptic who has had numerous papers refuted; Harrison Schmitt has forgotten the geoscience he learned at Harvard and is a sell-out to oil and gas industries; Will Happer has published stuff that has been blasted as heavily erroneous; Burt Rutan is totally not a scientist; and all these guys have been over-utilized again and again by the skeptical side to try and lend false legitimacy to pseudoscience. I think daily for the next two weeks I'll post links about each of them.

Claude Allegre: French climategate ends in sceptics humiliation

And then I'm going to write a letter to Harrison Schmitt.

That was too close

2012-01-29T06:52:00.000-08:00

Britsh TV Host, actress, and Britain's Got Talent judge Amanda Holden had second baby (following a stillbirth), and almost lost her life due to heavy hemorrhaging. Fortunately, the medical staff was able to pull her through, and now she and her husband can just simply be new parents.

Amanda Holden 'Fought For Her Life' After Childbirth

Dang that's a nice graph

2012-01-26T21:43:00.000-08:00

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration demonstrates that El Niño years are warm years, and La Niña years are cold years, and both of them are getting warmer. Like 2011 was, the warmest La Niña year ever.

Oh Mize, 1, 2, and 3

2012-01-26T21:38:00.000-08:00

Oh My 1: Vanessa Hudgens has some bikini trouble

Oh My 2: Former call girl Zahia Dehar is a runway fashion model (previously got French soccer players in trouble when she was with them, and underage)

Oh My 3: Jennifer Love Hewitt wears lingerie real well

Oh my yes.

Maria Sharapova, comeback kid

2012-01-26T21:29:00.000-08:00

OK, I thought it was over for Maria when Kvitova broke her in the third game of thethird set. But she's a battler -- and after I turned it off in the early morning hoursof Thursday, Sharapova broke right back, and finished it off by breaking Kvitova inthe final game to take the match. She didn't play great, and will probably need toplay better to beat Azarenka in the final.

Beyond her looks, which are obviously appealing (see below) I'm following Mariabecause she's a comeback story. She could have just packed it in when the shoulder injuryhappened, and relied on her looks to get her through the rest of her lifecomfortably. But she didn't. She rehabbed, altered her serve, and got back intotop-rank tennis shape -- WHICH ISN'T EASY. Her comeback is already a success,but to truly be complete, to have her not perceived as a short-lived phenom withthree Grand Slam titles, she needs at least one more. Kvitova surprised herat Wimbledon, I think -- I hope she's ready for a hungry-for-my-first-oneAzarenka. Just like Agassi who fought back from injury and came back and wonSlams (including eventually the French, in a come-from-behind win in the final),comeback stories are admirable.

Now, there may be plenty of comeback storieswe don't hear about if the players don't win a championship -- and those areadmirable too -- but in the case of both Agassi and Sharapova, they could havequit and rested on their accomplishments to that date, and called it a career,and NOT put in the time and effort and sweat equity required to get back to thetop. To their credit, they did.

About her looks. I was watching the match and how she prepares for eachpoint, with her back to the court. This allows a full appreciation of hermost femininely appealing rump, in a short tennis skirt. And it is VERYappealing.So I did a little searching and found a coupleother pictures that are indicative of her bottom beauty. (Due to running andoverall fitness, many female athletes have attractive derrieres. Is it anysurprise that the long and leggy Maria has one too? I certainly hope not.)

What a solar storm looks like

2012-01-24T22:42:00.000-08:00

When the charged protons from the Sun hit the SOHO detector, it snows.

Hilarie Burton on 'Castle'

2012-01-24T22:20:00.000-08:00

I knew that I'd seen the lead guest actress on 'Castle', but she looked so much different from her "One Tree Hill" character, I had to go to IMdB to figure out who it was. Hilarie Burton with long, brunette-highlighted hair.

Still had the great smile, of course.

I could not imagine better news!

2012-01-24T22:12:00.000-08:00

If there is a glimmer of hope for overfishing, it's the realization of how badly the barbaric practice of shark finning hurts both shark populations and the ocean environment. For whatever reason, Asian people are no longer enamored of shark fin soup. Praise the Deity!

Asia loses its taste for shark fin

"The younger generation has specifically been very aware of the issue and been stepping away from using shark fin... In the long term it will be a natural progression anyway."

In Hong Kong -- the top shark-fin trading centre, handling about 50 percent of the global trade -- conservationists lauded Peninsula Hotels group's decision two months ago to similarly ditch the dish."

Now, if we could just get Japan to lose its taste for bluefin tuna, we'd really be making progress.

This seaweed idea might really work

2012-01-23T23:15:00.000-08:00

In some places, there's lots of seaweed. Add a few of the right nutrients to the right areas, add sunlight, and the stuff grows like the proverbial weed. So if seaweed could turn into a biofuel crop, that could be a wedge in the battle against the CO2 dilemma.

So now we've got news of a bacterium that can digest seaweed and turn it directly into ethanol. That is a potential gamebreaker.

Seaweed study fuels bioenergy enthusiasm

"When the team fed alginate to their engineered E. coli, the microbes pumped out ethanol, the researchers report in the Jan. 20 Science. The system yields 80 percent of the theoretical maximum amount of ethanol for a given amount of biomass, the scientists noted, and with further tweaking will probably be even more efficient."

Stunner.

Add more widespread deployment of nuclear power for domestic and industrial energy use, and then we might have something workable.

Now I've got two - scratch that, one - reasons to stay up late this week

2012-01-23T23:02:00.000-08:00

Maria Sharapova waxed Sabine Lisicki at the Australian (tennis) Open, moving her at least to another match on Wednesday against unseeded Makarova (who's got some thunder, becuz she beat Serena Williams). So I thought that I'd be able to watch her play again, as well as Caroline Wozniacki. I didn't count on the skill and competitiveness of a slightly gimpy Kim Clijsters. Darn. I really like watching Wozniacki ... play. And about the only chance I get is during majors, and she hasn't got one yet.

If the seeds go as seeded, then we'll have a Wimbledon rematch on tap in the semis. I'd stay up for THAT.

I now detest John Boehner as a person, not just as a politician

2012-01-23T22:53:00.000-08:00

John Boehner's spineless wimpishness in the face of the childish behavior of the Tea Party caucus has been at turn nauseating, other times repugnant. But still, for most of the time, I felt that he was a dedicated public servant in a very tough place. Some of his public pronouncements made me upset, and at other times it was obvious that he was lying, but I still felt that it was the perils of the position he inherited. I still thought he respected the position he was in.

I no longer do. His disrespectful parody of the State of the Union address, an important public occasion, pushed me over the edge. He's a friggin' jerk. Though I don't know him personally, I don't need to. I detest the man.

John Boehner State of the Union spoof

John Boehner: State of the Union address may be 'pathetic'

Boehner said it sounds to him like "the same old policies" of more spending, taxes and regulations that have hurt the economy.

The Ohio Republican told "Fox News Sunday" that if that's what Obama is going to talk about, then "I think it's pathetic."

In the interview, Boehner also hinted that he may link the approval of the Keystone XL pipeline to the payroll tax cut extension. "Every option is on the table. We are going to do everything we can to try to make sure that this Keystone pipeline is, in fact, approved," he said. When pressed by Chris Wallace on whether he would "link" the pipeline to the payroll tax cut, he replied, "We may. But as I said, all options are on the table."

See what I mean? How can anyone respect this jerk?

Go, Newt, GO!

2012-01-23T22:41:00.000-08:00

Can Romney the turnaround artist do it again?

"But Sunday morning, from coast to coast, Republican candidates for Congress, governorships and other offices awakened to a sobering thought: They could be running next autumn with Gingrich — whose current approval rating nationally in a Jan. 12-14 Fox News and Opinion Dynamics poll was 27 percent favorable, 56 percent unfavorable — atop the ticket."

Hard to think of a better reason to support Gingrich for the Republican nomination for President, isn't it? Thanks, George Will.

Perspective is everything

2012-01-21T23:15:00.000-08:00

Every now and then the Cassini spacecraft that's touring the Saturnian system finds a really unique perspective for an image. This latest example is from the close flyby of Dione (the moon in front). Other moons and rings are beyond Dione. Shots like this keep bringing back to me that this place is REAL.

Hard to believe

2012-01-21T23:07:00.000-08:00

It truly is hard to believe that the New Horizons spacecraft is only three years away from Pluto encounter. I remember when they weren't sure if they could build and launch it on time.

Just a three year cruise left before Pluto flyby

It launched in 2006.

Sorry to hear this about Marc Morano's dad

2012-01-21T13:24:00.000-08:00

We certainly don't agree on climate, but I was saddened to find out that climate change skeptic extraordinaire Marc P. Morano's father died recently. He was a prominent lawyer and a World War II vet, who received the Purple Heart for action in the Battle of the Bulge.

Here's the full obituary:

Carl J. Morano, 87, a Washington lawyer who specialized in criminal cases and traffic cases, died Nov. 20 at Avalon House, an assisted-living facility in McLean.

He had Parkinson’s disease, his son Thomas J. Morano said.

Mr. Morano had a solo law practice in Washington for 50 years before retiring in 2004.

Carl Joseph Morano was born in Scranton, Pa. He served in the Army during World War II and participated in the Battle of the Bulge in Europe. He received the Purple Heart.

He graduated in 1951 from Catholic University law school.

He was a member of the Knights of Columbus and the American Legion. He was a McLean resident until moving to Avalon House two months before his death.

Survivors include his wife of 54 years, Leonore Leone Morano of McLean; six children, Carl Morano of Belleville, N.J., Thomas J. Morano of McLean, Laura Jones of Vienna, William Morano of Sterling, Lisa Weber of Harpers Ferry, W.Va., and Marc P. Morano of Manassas;
and nine grandchildren.

My condolences to the Morano family.

Most popular freebie candidates

2012-01-19T22:30:00.000-08:00

The following links to a 1:01 video about the top 10 females that men would like to cheat with, if they had the crazy chance to do so. Katy Perry was #1, and #10 was --- Sarah Palin? They asked 25,000 men, supposedly, and obviously they didn't ask enough liberal Democrats.

What celebs would your man cheat on you with?

Gotta agree on one of the 10 -- the luscious Latina, Salma Hayek.

No longer the most dangerous man in America - for now

2012-01-19T22:22:00.000-08:00

Okay dokay, I was wrong-ay about Rick Perry. I thought given the Tea Party momentum that Governor Good Hair was a rock solid lock for the GOP Presidential nomination. Thank God and Tebow that I was wrong. He dropped out of the race and endorsed Newt Gingrich. Which leads me to the two tweets that I'm going to tweet tomorrow, but here's a preview:

#Dem dream scenario: Part 1 - Gingrich wins SC, battles Romney all the way to #GOP convention, forcing Mitt far right, but loses.

#Dem dream scenario: Pt. 2 - Romney runs for POTUS, repudiates positions taken vs. Gingrich, #TeaParty drops him #GOP stay home like '08.

Now, there is one clear scenario that's still possible. If (and probably when) Romney gets the nomination, he's going to need a Vice Presidential candidate on the ticket. Caveman Governor Bob McDonnell of Virginia has been suggested, and he's got the definitive right wing and evangelical credentials (even a link to Pat Roberts). Not a bad choice, and he hasn't been seen looking like a fool in recent debates, either. But Rick Perry also has those credentials. Having Perry provides the ticket with heavy right wing weight, as well as potentially reassuring the evangelical Christians who I know are going to still have a hard time voting for the heretical Mormon Presidential candidate. So maybe they will think that with a professing Christian as a VP, there'd at least be a chance for a conversion. And of course God could then take a hand in matters, as has happened before for Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, and Kennedy. And in Texas a lot of those guys can hit what they aim at. Oh yeah, didn't Perry have a hunting ranch?

Food for thought. If you like indigestion.

China realizes the risks of climate change

2012-01-18T23:06:00.000-08:00

The Chinese government has released a new report indicating that they are starting to get the threat that climate change poses to their populace -- not to mention their own internal stability. Because if the people are getting sick from pollution and aren't getting fed due to pollution, they're going to blame someone. And if they end up blaming the government that encouraged all the businesses that generated all the pollution, then that government is going to be in TROUBLE.

China report spells out 'grim' climate change risks

Water, either too much or too little, lies at the heart of how that warming could trip up China's budding prosperity.

"Climate change will lead to severe imbalances in China's water resources within each year and across the years. In most areas, precipitation will be increasingly concentrated in the summer and autumn rainy seasons, and floods and droughts will become increasingly frequent," says the report.

"Without effective measures in response, by the latter part of the 21st century, climate change could still constitute a threat to our country's food security," it says.

That's why, I think, that the window is budging open regarding getting China (and hopefully India) to sign on to real climate change action. And that action can begin real soon:

Slashing global warming by 2050: a 12-step program (from NASA)

Here are 2 of my favorite points:

Make Fuel and Vehicle Standards More Stringent

Many cars around the world, but especially in Africa and Asia, lack particle filters or access to clean burning fuels. Shindell’s team calculated that upgrading the world’s fleet to comply with current European standards would reduce black carbon emissions by 18 percent.

Compost Biodegradable Garbage

If we universally separated out compostable material from landfills, the amount of methane produced by them—currently about 22 percent of all human sources of methane—would be reduced. (And though they don't say it, you could also use this stuff as a biofuel feedstock.)

Ashley Greene reps DKNY

2012-01-18T22:51:00.001-08:00

Ashley Greene, about whom I have opined is one of the most beautiful actresses we've been blessed with in a long time, is representing DKNY's spring collection. The results are outstanding. First link has a short video that's worth a watch or two.

Spring is here

Stepping into a fashion fairy tale: Ashley Greene floats into spring in delicate pink dress for new DKNY campaign

Inquiring minds may never know

2012-01-18T22:44:00.001-08:00

Since I am unlikely to ever know someone with them, I'm asking thesequestions at large -

a) do nipple piercings make the nipples more sensitive?

b) if the answer to a is yes, does it enhance the enjoyment ofnipple stimulation?

c) will the nipples still function for breastfeeding if thepiercings are removed? (I think yes, because there are milkducts in the areola, but I don't know)

I read this tweet, and got REALLY mad

2012-01-15T22:42:00.000-08:00

The tweet:

@NatGeoChannel National Geographic
Just announced: Wicked Tuna coming this Spring - high stakes bluefin tuna fishing, inspired by the characters of The Perfect Storm #tca12

Here's my original note of comment:
Tuna fishing should not be presented as anything other than leading to extinction. It should not be glorified and those that do it, even though I know they are hard-working men and women, should not be made into celebrities or heroes.

But still I didn't get it. The NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC channel? From a magazine that has brought us stunning documentation of the splendors of the eroding natural world and nature treasures of the world? A magazine that glorified naturalists protecting endangered species?

And then I read this, and got even angrier:

National Geographic Channel, In Race for Bottom, Adds Killing Endangered Species to New Season Entertainment Lineup by Carl Safina

It seems almost like the scenario of a post-apocalyptic surrealist satire, unimaginable just a few years back: National Geographic Channel has been bought out by Fox, is "joint-venturing" with the disgraceful and disgraced Rupert Murdoch, and creating programmes to push Bull O'Reilly's tomes. And, well -- National Geographic Channel will be killing endangered species for entertainment.

They've just announced the new unscripted show: Wicked Tuna.

The first word that comes to mind is: boycott. And I will be writing in. Indignantly.

The Hunley in full view

2012-01-13T21:42:00.000-08:00

The Confederate submarine Hunley has finally been put on full view after years of preservation efforts. It's a pretty amazing recovery for a sub that was found buried in the sediments of Charleston Harbor with only a little bit of its top hatch sticking out.

Pictured for the first time since the Civil War: Confederate submarine finally revealed after being buried at sea for 150 years

Great idea for lionfish control

2012-01-13T21:34:00.000-08:00

Great idea! More dive shops should join in. After all, a healthy reef is in their best interests.

Grand Cayman dive operator offers free scuba diving to hunt lionfish

Yeah, probably true

2012-01-11T22:44:00.000-08:00

New research indicates that most people want to date a good-looking person, even if they say looks don't matter that much.

Unconsciously, everyone wants to date a hottie

"People will readily tell you what they value in a romantic partner," study researcher Eli Finkel, of Northwestern University, said in a statement. "But study after study shows that those preferences don't predict whom daters are actually attracted to when they meet flesh-and-blood partners. Now we can get under the hood with this quirky methodology to see what people actually prefer in live-interaction settings."

It all hearkens back to mate choices and fertility. Good-looking should mean good genes, and that's what our unconscious selves REALLY want, a mate that will produce hearty and healthy offspring. And all the indicators of fecundity and fertility rate high on the attractiveness scale.

Something like this, considering it from the male perspective:

Lack of water is GOOD news?

2012-01-11T22:06:00.000-08:00

Texas Drought: Power grid concerns Senate Democrats

"But senators heard testimony from state utility authorities who said part of the problem is that energy is currently so inexpensive to produce in Texas that there is little incentive to improve infrastructure and make energy generation more efficient to guard against shortfalls sparked by water shortages.

Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, said the continued lack of rainfall poses serious concerns "about the ability to keep the lights on" in the short term and that things will only get more complicated in the future. He said Texas should have a contingency plan for coping with future energy needs similar to the $16 million it spends on a long-term water plan it produces every five years."

A clear example of how the infrastructure of civilization is intimately interconnected with climate.

Now, since Governor Rick Perry thinks that climate change is all a scam cooked up by scientists who want to get research grant money, he probably won't propose to do a thing about this.

Excerpts from the Dave Barry end-of-year review

2012-01-10T21:48:00.000-08:00

Excerpts with humor and some politically-telling commentary from Dave Barry's latest end-of-year review:

"In Washington, Congress is under mounting pressure to do something about the pesky federal debt, which continues to mount as a result of the fact that the government continues to spend insanely more money than it actually has. Congress, after carefully weighing its three options — stop spending so
much money; get some more money somehow; or implement some combination of options one and two — decides to go with option four: continue to do nothing while engaging in relentlessly hyperpartisan gasbaggery. Incredibly, this does not solve the debt problem."

"Standard & Poor’s makes good on its threat to downgrade the U.S. credit rating, noting that the federal government, in making fiscal decisions, is exhibiting “the IQ of a turnip.”

"Meanwhile on the Republican side, Herman Cain surges to the top of the pile with his “9-9-9” plan, which combines the quality of being easy to remember with the quality of being something that nobody thinks will ever actually happen. Seeking to regain momentum, Rick Perry also comes out with a tax
plan, but he can remember only the first two nines. Adding spice to the mix, Mitt Romney unexpectedly exhibits a lifelike facial expression but is quickly subdued by his advisers."

"Meanwhile, in a vindication for the Department of Homeland Security, alert passengers aboard a United Airlines flight foil an apparent terrorist attack when they subdue a man attempting to deep-fry a turkey in economy class. After the plane makes an emergency landing, the man is removed by federal agents, who confirm that he was carrying not only cranberry sauce, but “enough stuffing to choke a buffalo.”

The wonders of the Afar

2012-01-10T21:43:00.000-08:00

Some remarkable pictures of activity in the Afar Depression

First time I've heard Africa had geysers. I wonder how many? Well, let's see at the following Web site:

http://www.wondermondo.com/Best/Af/AfGeysers.htm

So there's a few of them. North America (by virtue of Yellowstone) has a lot more geysers, but Africa has two active lava lakes, and right now a fire-fountaining cone, and if you count the Red Sea, a Surtsey-type marine eruption. And occasional massive outbreaks of lava.

Geysers and flamingos -- you won't see that in North America

Thanks to the Huffington Post

2012-01-09T23:37:00.000-08:00

Major kudos to the HuffingtonPost for starting a Science section. Much needed.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/science/

Humanity to the stars

2012-01-09T23:26:00.000-08:00

Long-term plan for the long-term survival of the human race, somewhere other than this solar system

Female skipper chosen to lead 100-year project to go beyond the solar system

With the money in the bank, Jemison's group, the Houston-based Dorothy Jemison Foundation for Excellence, now has to take on the challenge of building a programme that can last 100 years which hopefully will result in a starship.

I saw this, and without reading it, remembered several of the "gen-ship" stories that I'd read about in science fiction. The vast output of global resources that would be required is beyond comprehension. However, if the human race commits to launching a lifeboat that would allow potential survival to extend beyond this ravaged planet, then it makes sense to start planning. A 100-year timeline seems reasonable. I'm just not sure what shape the human race and the planet will be in 100 years from now.

Not quite extinct, but really hard to find

2012-01-09T22:30:00.000-08:00

Using DNA, scientists have discovered that one of the species of Galapagos tortoises once thought extinct probably isn't.

'Extinct' Gal apagos Tortoise Reappears

'Extinct' for 150 years, an iconic Galápagos giant tortoise species lives

Well, now the next step is to do a 100% complete census of the entire tortoise population, to see if the putative survivors really do exist on the island. That will be one heck of an effort. I hear Earthwatch calling. Still, this is one of those rare opportunities to rediscover a supposedly extinct species -- and possibly save them from extinction. Maybe, just maybe.

Manchester Utd. beats Manchester City

2012-01-08T22:46:00.000-08:00

In a Manchester showdown in the FA Cup, Manchester United won 3-2 with two goals from Wayne Rooney, a red card that might not have been deserved on Man City, and a close call in stoppage time on a great free kick from Aleksandar Kolarov. Good stuff.

Video highlights (but this doesn't have the controversial red card)

Great Mount Etna eruption video

2012-01-08T22:26:00.000-08:00

Mount Etna in Sicily had a pretty spectacular short eruption a couple of days ago. In addition to the fairly routine (but beautiful and fascinating) lava fountains, Etna also launched a few small pyroclastic flows, which is not something it's noted for. They may have occurred partly due to interaction with newfallen snow. Whatever the cause, it was quite a display.

Also it's high-definition; looks great at full screen.

Gettin' ready for the 'Shameless' premiere

2012-01-07T22:37:00.001-08:00

The first season of 'Shameless' was pretty amazing and surprising. The trailer for the 2nd season makes it looks like it's going to be more of the same crazy ride. And one reason to watch is the all-out performance by the delectable Emmy Rossum, who in the role manages to be both hot and disturbing -- and that's tough to do.

When Emmy puts on the glam, she's gorgeous:

At the 'Shameless' premiere

On the luckiness of Michael Bublé

2012-01-06T22:45:00.000-08:00

OK, let's face it, when it comes to getting, bedding, and occasionally keeping extremely good-looking babes, singers are probably the top-notch babegetters, even ahead of international soccer stars and National Basketball Association players. (Many star athletes get star babes, we know). But there does seem to be somewhat of a difference between the singers and the athletes -- athletes tend to be (though not always) fit, which is a plus in the looks department, and that would seem to generate some sex appeal
for the ladies. Many athletes are also reasonably good-looking men. Combine that with reasonable earning potential (and sometimes unreasonable), and the frequency with which good-looking babes attend sporting events, this helps to explain the success rate for athletes.

But singers are another breed entirely. They not only have babes attending their events, they frequently have them swooning in the aisles or tossing their undies on the stage. Add to that a projected (explicitly or implicitly) romantic attractiveness, and the women just seem to line up to lie down for them. And looks can be very secondary, though it doesn't hurt to be a good-looking man to get a hot babe. You just don't have to necessarily be handsome if you've got the pipes and the hips.

There's no way I could make a comprehensive list, so just a few examples here.

Harry Connick Jr. and Jill Goodacre (previous generation Victoria's Secret throb)
Rod Stewart and Rachel Hunter (and Rod's NUMEROUS other conquests)
Ric Ocasek and Paulina Porizkova
Eddy Fisher and Elizabeth Taylor and Debbie Reynolds
Mick Jagger: Bianca Jagger, Jerry Hall
Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson; Tommy Lee and Heather Locklear
Richie Sambora and Heather Locklear
Brad Paisley and Kimberly Williams (Kimberly also dated an athlete, Pete Sampras)
Tim McGraw and Faith Hill
Billy Joel and Christie Brinkley
Joe Jonas and Ashley Greene
Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner
Elvis Presley and Priscilla Presley

Now, to this list, we add Michael Bublé. He may even have set a new standard. While not unattractive, he's 36 and a bit chunky (even more so recently). That didn't stop him from getting married to the absolutely lusciously stunning Luisana Lopilato, 24, who has the added feature of being Latina
Argentinian. Lopilato is an actress and singer in her own right, and just recently added the title "Lead Underwear Model for Ultimo" to her resume.

She has a wondrous front and a perfect derriere (though I can't find as many examples of the derriere as I would like).

And she's pretty, and smiles great, and ... well ... she's as hot as they come.

I don't know how long it will last for Bublé and Lopilato -- one always hopes for permanence in these relationships -- but it sure would be fun to tag along on their ride. If you know what I mean.

The rest of this is mostly going to be about Luisana Lopilato. I mean, there are shapes...

and then there are SHAPES.

The aforementioned derriere

Pre-Buble, about 20 years old.

Now, Luisana has never posed completely nude, and now that she's married, there's less of a chance of that. Unfortunately. Still, one could hope for a deal that she couldn't refuse. However, her singing hubby is likely making unreasonable amounts of money, so there's little reason that she'd have to consider a deal she couldn't refuse. Being such as it is, therefore we can just contemplate her in the glory of lingerie, and think about the glory of the lack of it.

The best video of Luisana modeling lingerie. Kinda makes me wish I could sing.

Ultimo Christmas lingerie video. And the bonus is that you get to see her on a bed. Not nude on a bed, but still, she's on a bed. There's a better (less grainy) version at Ultimo here.

I also note that Bublé has recently mentioned that he would like to start a family (though he'll wait until his wife is ready). This is code for the fact that the honeymoon/newlywed frequency of lovemaking has started to slow down, and for Bublé to keep the frequency up, and to have a chance to see and experience his wife Luisana Lopilato nude as much as possible, there has to be a reason to have a scheduled frequency. So, if I was in his shoes, I'd probably make the same points.

More on the potential Constitutional crisis

2012-01-06T16:46:00.000-08:00

I think the best-case scenario would be a Supreme Court ruling in favor of the Prez (and I think that's the likely outcome) prior to the elections. It would a major slap in the face to the Republicans who are seeking to block the ability of the President to conduct the basic functions of the office via procedural subterfuge. However, I expect that the ruling would actually come after the elections, because the conservatives on the SCOTUS wouldn't want to give the Prez this kind of victory.

Obama appointments could trigger court test case

Representing the "blatant abuse of power" side, we have (unsurprisingly) the Wall Street Journal, Investors Business Daily, and former Reagan attorney general Ed Meese (from the Heritage Foundation, naturally):
Obama’s recess appointments are unconstitutional

Obama's Reckless Recess Ploy

Obama's Recess Appointments: An Impeachable Offense?
"Now we have the makings of a banana republic, where the rule of clearly written constitutional law is compromised by a ruler's subjective whim." That's a bit over the top, I think.

Representing the "Senate is blocking Obama's right to appoint people to run the country" side, we have the Huffington Post's Adam Levin, the New York Times with Harvard's Lawrence Tribe, and The New Republic's Jonathan Cohn.

Is Obama's Cordray Appointment Unprecedented? Not By a Longshot

Games and Gimmicks in the Senate
"In this case, the administration’s focus on the gimmicky nature of pro forma sessions is best understood as one among several factors that combine to present unconstitutional interference with the president’s irreducible power and duty." Seems much more reasonable to me.

Were the Recess Appointments Constitutional? The Case for Yes

"The administration goes on to point out that Obama did not use the recess appointment power to fill every vacancy. He did so only for the new consumer board and the NLRB because, without the appointments, those particular agencies simply could not operate. Here’s what White House Counsel Kathy Ruemmler said:
"These appointees were necessary for these government agencies to function. The agencies were created to enforce duly passed laws, the Dodd-Frank Act and the National Labor Relations Act. The president has a constitutional obligation to enforce the laws and to make sure that personnel necessary to enforce the laws are in place. That's the whole point of the recess appointment clause, to make it possible for the president to do that."

I think the Constitution wins when the President wins this one.

News from the Chinese environmental wars

2012-01-06T16:27:00.000-08:00

Drought shrinks China's largest freshwater lake

So the Baiji (the Yangtze river dolphin) is extinct, but the finless porpoise still has a chance. Not much of a chance, though, given the environmental pressure it is facing in China.

Yangtze river dolphins under drought threat (actually, this is about the finless porpoises, NOT the extinct Baiji)

Public pollution unrest DOES work in China: Beijing to issue new smog data after online outcry

"China has the world's largest online population, with around half a billion web users, posing a growing challenge to authorities in a country that tightly controls its media.

..............

But the state-run China Daily has said that if PM2.5 were used as China's main standard, only 20 percent of Chinese cities would be rated as having satisfactory air quality, against the current 80 percent."

Avatar and Kepler

2012-01-06T16:21:00.000-08:00

Wanted: Habitable moons

So what are they looking for? Pandora? The Forest Moon of Endor? Either one of them would be a nice place to visit.

A real Constitutional crisis?

2012-01-05T22:35:00.000-08:00

Constitutional crisis? POTUS appoints Cordray to head CFPB with recess appt; but Senate not officially in recess.

"[George W. Bush presidential legal counsel] Bradbury sharply denounced the [pro forma] sessions as “phony,” arguing: “They serve but one purpose: to prevent the president from exercising his constitutional authority to make recess appointments.” He urged the President to call the Senate’s bluff in order to avoid more “gridlock.”

While this shows that Senate Dems also used the “pro forma” tactic, it also allows the White House to argue that even Bush’s lawyers see it as a sham and agree that Obama has the power to make such appointments."

This could be real interesting, both as a campaign issue to show that the Republicans have been blocking Obama just for the sake of blocking (and not doing that which is good for the country due to their intentions to block whatever he's doing), and also as an issue of historical significance. Question: if Congress does something to subvert the rights of the President to perform his designated duties, does the President have the right to perform his duties, even if in so doing he apparently breaks a Constitutional prohibition?

Yeah, the Supreme Court opinjins on this one could have bona fide entertainment value.

Deal with climate change now -- everybody but the businessmen moguls agree

2012-01-04T22:46:00.000-08:00

Climate change must be addressed now

"To not take climate change seriously, you must somehow believe there is a gigantic international conspiracy involving the world's top scientists, all of whom have agreed to distort their data. Come on. I realize that people on both sides of the political spectrum can twist themselves into pretzels to reach an ideological result, but that's way beyond improbable. I believe that scientists, as they have down through history, are basing their conclusions on unbiased scientific inquiry."

But that's the thing. Impossible/improbable though it is, skeptics and deniers DO think that it's all a conspiracy to spread socialism throughout the world. As if, given the way things are going right now, that would actually be bad. Oh, I know, socialism stifles the competitive urges that give capitalism its impetus. Well, look what's that gotten us into. Maybe a dose of "we're all in this together" rather than the current "Every man for himself, and he who dies with the most gold wins" that seems to be the Republican raison d'etre, and we could make the world a better place.

Minka and Derek

2012-01-04T22:41:00.000-08:00

OK, first I ask how many couples both have names with a "k" in them? and then I congratulate the Jete on his perceptivity in getting back together with Minka, who is an absolute hard A-list 10. Even if they're are lots of fish in the sea, Derek, very few of them rate as high as this catch.

Stay hooked.
Derek Jeter and Minka Kelly, dating again

Plus, this gives me an excuse to post a picture of Minka. (Speaking of which, what's with the initials - Minka Kelly, Miranda Kerr, Mila Kunis; quite a trio!)

Aristarchus Crater -- incredible zoom capability

2012-01-04T22:28:00.000-08:00

Aristarchus Crater, from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
http://wms.lroc.asu.edu/lroc_browse/view/M175569775

I just found this site, where you can zoom in to boulder resolution on the surface of the Moon. It's almost like being there! Currently on page 6 is a view of the Apollo 17 landing site, entitled "Skimming the Moon".
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera - Browse Gallery

Expansion of Plant Vogtle

2012-01-04T22:20:00.000-08:00

Truly excellent news.

Plant Vogtle combined operating license expected

"The $14.8 billion project marks the first new commercial power reactors to be built in the United States in a generation, and is unfolding in the wake of the Fukushima disaster in Japan that raised new questions about nuclear safety and construction standards."

and

"The Vogtle project also heralds the American debut of the Westinghouse AP1000 reactor, a new design that features a cooling reservoir above the reactor vessel that can be fed into the unit by gravity in the event of an emergency. Because other proposed nuclear expansions in the U.S. will use the same design, the Vogtle project has been designated as the NRC’s official “reference site” for future AP1000 construction."

GRAIL in orbit

2012-01-02T22:28:00.000-08:00

In case you missed this news while partying in the New Year, the Moon has two new satellites.

NASA's twin GRAIL spacecraft reunite in lunar orbit

The gravity maps will be interesting, but I can't wait for the first MoonKAM image.

A guide to Amy Childs

2012-01-02T22:06:00.000-08:00

In a previous post I mentioned that reality show starlet (?) from Britain Amy Childs is a model for Ultimo lingerie, and possesses the requisite mammarian attributes to represent them quite attractively. Well, if you want to know pretty much all you need to know about Amy Childs, here it is:

Amy Childs, bra queen

In a couple of these pictures she has a slight Brittany Murphy resemblance.

Oh, and she also has a 2012 calendar. I'll have to see if I can locate that. And she has also posed nude, though not quite nude enough, in my opinion. But her bottom is brilliant, as they might say in the UK.

Top of the Premier upset on New Year's weekend

2012-01-02T11:39:00.000-08:00

Both Manchester City and Manchester United lost over the weekend, Manchester City in the 92nd minute when they could have gone three points ahead. Chelsea, still eight back of the leaders, almost tied but got a late goal from Frank Lampard on an Ashley Cole cross. But Chelsea had previously lost 3-1 to Aston Villa. It's almost unheard of for the top teams in the Premier League to all lose in the same weekend.

Also, Peter Crouch (married to the wondrous Abbey) scored two for Stoke City.

Match summaries:

Aston Villa 3, Chelsea 1

Wolverhampton 1, Chelsea 2

Last-gasp Ji stuns Man City

Manchester United 2, Blackburn Rovers 3

The sea is whipped up

2012-01-01T22:09:00.000-08:00

Sometimes weather and ocean biology combine to produce a whole lot of sea foam, as happened here in Britain a couple of days ago.

Let it foam, let it foam, let it foam

Still, this doesn't match the "world record" event in Australia a couple of years ago,

Sea of foam

Rogues gallery of craters on Mars

2012-01-01T22:00:00.000-08:00

This was fascinating. The HIRISE camera operators (HIRISE is the super camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter) picked their favorite strange craters on Mars.

This one is my favorite (fourth one on the list):

3 quick hits: study of ocean pH variation

2011-12-31T06:31:00.000-08:00

Interesting new study of how much ocean pH varies in different places and over diurnal cycles. Good advance in studying the impact of ocean acidification.

Comprehensive Study Makes Key Findings of Ocean pH Variations

"Though many lab simulations of this effect have been performed recently, including at a new acidification laboratory in development at Scripps, there have been few comparable field studies. Using sensors recently developed at Scripps, the researchers surveyed marine ecosystems ranging from coral reefs in the South Pacific Ocean to volcanic CO2 vent communities in the Mediterranean Sea.

They found that in some places, such as Antarctica and the Line Islands of the south Pacific, the range of pH variance is much more limited than in areas of the California coast subject to large vertical movements of water known as upwellings.In some of their study areas, they found that the decrease in seawater pH being caused by greenhouse gas emissions is still within the bounds of natural pH fluctuation.

Some areas already experience daily acidity levels that scientists had expected would only be reached at the end of the 21st Century."This study is important for identifying the complexity of the ocean acidification problem around the globe," said Scripps marine biologist Jennifer Smith."

3 quick hits: 2, Comet Lovejoy

2011-12-31T06:24:00.001-08:00

Great picture of the Christmas Comeback Comet, sungrazing Comet Lovejoy, from the Paranal Observatory. Wish I'd been able to see this one.

3 quick hits: 1, Kelly Brook in Glamour

2011-12-31T06:20:00.000-08:00

Kelly Brook will be in Glamour magazine, describing how she doesn't mind being a role model for curvy girls. That's just fine with me. But I'm sorry, she looks wrong as a blonde.

Kelly Brook shows off her hourglass figure in sexy shoot

The picture in the article doesn't show off her hourglass figure, though.

It's who wears it right (and tight)

2011-12-31T06:01:00.000-08:00

The Daily Mail article indicates that Ultimo lingerie had a good year, attributing the success to the correct selection of underwear models, namely Tamara Ecclestone, Amy Childs, and the divine Luisana Lopilato, aka Mrs. Michael Buble. (More on her soon, I promise.) But the basic premise of the article is that if you're selling lingerie, cleavage and a tight tummy sell well. Now, why do I not in any way find that particularly surprising?

Tamara Ecclestone, Amy Childs and Michael Bublé’s Argentinian wife Luisana Lopilato have all stripped down this year.

Posing in nothing but racy underwear the three women have helped boost Ultimo's latest lingerie lines.

Note: the article has pictures of pretty women wearing lingerie, if you like that kind of thing.

It worked for Jonah

2011-12-31T05:55:00.000-08:00

New research shows that bioluminescent bacteria use the glow to get eaten by shrimp; when the shrimp eat enough bacteria, the bioluminescence shows up in their gut, attracting fish. The fish eat the shrimp, swim around, then poop out the remnants and the bacteria, which are just fine after spending time in the digestive system of the shrimp and the fish. So this helps the bacteria move to new locations. Not only that, while they're in the guts of the shrimp and the fish, they eat some of the other stuff that's in there!

Research shows ocean bacteria glow to attract those that would eat them

How hard will the GOP work to undo this?

2011-12-29T04:54:00.000-08:00

Great news about the EPA's new rules to restrict the emission of mercury, which is a useful metal, but not one that anyone wants more of in the atmosphere and in the Earth's biological cycles. Now, the articles indicate that compliance will cost money, which means that a regulation such as this might end up in the target reticule of the GOP enviro-bombers. But here's the deal; if the GOP runs against the EPA rules against mercury, which will reduce the levels of mercury in the environment, making fish safer to eat, allowing pregnant women to ingest more food without worrying as much about the neurological health of their fetuses (and fetuses are something that the GOP faithful are blood-sworn to protect), and even protecting sushi-eating celebrities like Jeremy Piven and Daphne Zuniga from mental and physical problems caused by too much mercury ingestion -- then the Democrats can run as if the GOP was in FAVOR of poisoning pregnant women, fetuses, and sushi-eating celebrities. Well, maybe they should just mention the first two. But I think the GOP would be pretty darned stupid to run in opposition to this necessary and welcome rule.

Now, the GOP is pretty darned stupid, so I expect to see this mentioned prominently next year.

A couple of comparisons between Enceladus and Earth's Moon

2011-12-29T04:50:00.000-08:00

Enceladus' mean radius is 252 km; Earth's Moon is 1738 km, so Enceladus is roughly 1/6 to 1/7 the size of Earth's Moon.

It takes Enceladus 1.37 days to orbit Saturn once; obviously it takes Earth's Moon about 28 days. The semi-major axis of the orbit of Enceladus is 238,000 km. Assuming circularity (this is a rough calculation), then the circumference of the orbit is 1,495,398 km - close enough to 1,500,000 km.

The semi-major axis of the Moon's orbit is 385,000 km, so the circumference of the orbit is about 2,420,000 km.

Orbital speed of Enceladus: 1,500,000 km/32.9 hours = 45,600 km/hr

Orbital speed of Earth's Moon: 2,420,000 km/672 hours = 3600 km/hr

Wow.

Not good lionfish news

2011-12-29T04:48:00.000-08:00

Invasive lionfish making Florida home

OK, it's time to ramp up the harvest efforts. Start marketing them as an aphrodisiac and penis enlargement supplement.

"These fish really stay put, at least in our system," Zachary Jud, a marine scientist at Florida International University, said. "We've had some fish that stayed in the same spot for months. The greatest distance some moved was a couple hundred feet."

Because adult lionfish tend to stay in one place, efforts to keep down their numbers by capturing or spearing them have been successful.

And remember, THEY TASTE GOOD! (But mind the spines).

Not just a Legend, but a smart guy, too

2011-12-27T22:36:00.000-08:00

Anytime you're with a supermodel (swimsuit type) that apparently is really in love with you, and who lets you write songs about having sex in the morning with you (at least according to their joint interview in Sports Illustrated) then it's a very good idea to get engaged (and perhaps eventually married) to her.

So good move by John Legend to put a ring on Chrissy Teigen's finger.

John Legend Engaged: Singer Engaged To Model Chrissy Teigen

Chrissy's Me in My Place pictures -- I'm going to review them soon, all the ones I haven't reviewed yet. Which is a few. But reviewing the ones I've viewed is a pleasing activity. As for hers, best picture is #12, best comment is #16.

John Legend sings "Good Morning" -- you can guess what it's about.

A Christmas card from PEER

2011-12-27T21:48:00.000-08:00

This card captures the sentiments I frequently feel. Unfortunately. Feliz Navidad.

All the more reason to vote against any Republican in sight this coming election season.

There's a place in the world named Wiala

2011-12-27T21:40:00.000-08:00

And it is NOT easy to get to.

I'm not sure there's anything there, other than jungle.

(According to Google Maps, it's in Papua New Guinea.)

The "John Carter" trailer is out

2011-12-26T22:25:00.000-08:00

I just happened to see the trailer for "John Carter" yesterday -- and it was good. Now, I commented on the John Carter movie here -- with a lot of commentary on Dejah Thoris, including a link to a modestly nude Lynn Collins, who plays Dejah. (Apparently this is the extended trailer, but it's the one that caught my eye.)

So, without further ado, here's the trailer (and there are resemblances to both Star Wars and Dune):

Lynn as Dejah looks good too; good choice for one of the most iconic sci-fi fantasy (the Edgar Rice Burroughs wing of the genre) heroines ever.

Now about the plot; I still wonder how much resemblance it will have to the Burroughs books. But Carter is still apparently a Civil War vet.

Don't know nuttin' 'bout fairy shrimps

2011-12-26T21:58:00.000-08:00

After reading the article linked below, I did a quick search, saw some video, read a little, and I guess they're somewhat related to brine shrimp and Triops. So that's all I know now -- and that they're endangered. I wish that wasn't the case, but it's the case with a lot of species these days.

Fairy shrimp threatened by dry autumn

Pond Conservation's Dr Jeremy Biggs said: "With only a handful of sites across the whole of Britain, the future of these beautiful creatures is balanced on a knife-edge."

It is that hoped fairy shrimps (Chirocephalus diaphanous), which are protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act, will return to their "strongholds" this Christmas in Hampshire's New Forest, on the edge of Dartmoor in Devon, on Salisbury Plain, in parts of the Sussex Weald, as well as in Oxfordshire, East Anglia and South Wales.

Approval of new nuclear reactor design in U.S.

2011-12-25T22:36:00.000-08:00

Good news; pending construction of several new nuclear plants, the U.S. has approved the new pressurized reactor design from Westinghouse. This will quiet the critics and push forward construction of several new power plants in the United States.

Here's the Wall Street Journal's take on the approval news:

U.S. Clears Reactor DesignApproval of Toshiba's AP1000 Sets Up Possible Nuclear-Power Revival (Westinghouse is a part of Toshiba)
"The AP1000 differs from existing U.S. reactors in several ways. It uses so-called passive systems for cooling, such as the gravity flow of water and natural circulation based on thermodynamics. It also has fewer moving parts, like pumps and valves."

Here's more on the reactor:

The Westinghouse AP1000

Several good explanatory videos at the above link.

Stats on the AP1000 :

A treat for Christmas

2011-12-25T22:21:00.000-08:00

Seeing Miranda Kerr in lingerie would brighten any Christmas celebration; so here's a light-hearted Christmas posting and a link to the delights of satin, silk, and skin:

All she wants for Christmas! Miranda Kerr models the lingerie husbands should be buying this season

Dawn achieves lowest orbit altitude over Vesta

2011-12-22T22:19:00.000-08:00

Somehow, even though the altitude is 130 miles, it seems like that's dangerously close. But to put it in perspective, that's a little more than the distance from Indianapolis, Indiana to Louisville, Kentucky. So it's not exactly in danger of crashing.

Closer and closer to the Vesta surface

Wall Street Journal gets it right

2011-12-22T22:16:00.000-08:00

The generally conservative Wall Street Journal put the hammer down on the Republican SNAFU in Congress on the payroll tax cut extension:

"The entire exercise is political, but Republicans have thoroughly botched the politics."

Amen.

2012 predictions; out on limb, but not very far

2011-12-22T21:49:00.000-08:00

10 Fairly Easy Predictions for 2012

1. Andy Murray will win a Grand Slam (tennis) title.
2. Khloe Kardashian will get pregnant.
3. Barack Obama will be re-elected President.
4. There will be a "reverse Climategate" with emails from climate change skeptics, showing how they conspire together to distribute the same tired talking points.
5. At some point in the year, the Dow Jones will go below 10,000.
6. The Washington Wizards will make the NBA Playoffs.
7. The year's biggest movie will be "The Hobbit".
8. Kepler will find an exoplanet with near-perfect conditions for Earth-like life.
9. Another famous celebrity will pose nude for Playboy (wow, like that's a stretch).
10. I'll have more than 100 followers on Twitter.

The cloud waves

2011-12-22T21:44:00.000-08:00

Still images have been making the rounds, but this is the first time I saw a video of this unusual cloud phenomenon that was sighted recently:

Massive 'cloud waves' roll over Alabama

And if you haven't seen them, here's what they are:

"Breaking waveforms of Kelvin-Helmholtz clouds are the result of shearing winds up at cloud level."

They're both edible, and tasty

2011-12-20T22:27:00.000-08:00

Short article from the Texas SeaGrant explaining about the danger to the local ocean ecosystem from lionfish and black tiger shrimp. See, the thing is, both of them can be eaten, and they taste good. And the black tiger shrimp can be BIG.

Lions and tigers: too much to bear?

"Lionfish, too, are a marketable fish, but on a much smaller scale. They are best caught using traps or by spear gun and are considered a delicacy in Asia, but they have yet to gain popularity in the U.S.

Harvesting lionfish for the restaurant trade appears to be to be an effective method for controlling local population densities in the South Atlantic and Mexico, says Morris."

EAT MOR LIONFISCH!

The apparent main problem with the black tiger shrimp is that they can spread diseases to other shrimp. But they're big and tasty:

"On the other hand, black tiger shrimp are a highly valuable commodity, although Reisinger said he has heard anecdotal reports that some shrimpers have thrown captured black tiger shrimp back into the Gulf of Mexico because they did not think they were a marketable species. The shrimp fetch a market price similar to native white shrimp and slightly more than native brown shrimp. As of early December, the largest black tiger shrimp were going for about $8.35 per pound on the New York Market."

At this point, though, there aren't that many in Texas waters. But that could change.

Nice quote

2011-12-20T22:15:00.000-08:00

Obama blasts GOP after House Republicans defeat two-month payroll tax cut

“What is playing out in Washington, D.C., this week is about political leverage, not about what’s good for the American people. Congress can work out a solution without stopping the payroll tax-cut extension for the middle class,” Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.), who served with House Republicans for 4 1/2years until his appointment to the Senate in the spring, said in a statement."

D*mn straight.

Breathtaking volcano photographs

2011-12-19T21:35:00.000-08:00

Volcanoes can be dangerous, destructive, and fatal, but their power can also be gorgeous. Provided you're standing far enough away.

The Year in Volcanic Activity

Just a sample: Puyehue-Cordon Caulle in Chile

Governor "Caveman" Bob McDonnell guts Virginia

2011-12-19T21:20:00.000-08:00

"Better Choices for Virginia, a coalition of businesspeople, nonprofit leaders, local officials and educators, called on McDonnell to protect and create jobs instead of making cuts to schools, health care, public safety and other core services. It advocates for eliminating tax loopholes instead of a cuts-only approach to budgets.

Since the beginning of the recession, the coalition estimates that Virginia has cut $1.3 billion from education, $238 million from public safety and $994 million from health care."

Group accuses McDonnell of ‘stealing from Peter to pay Paul’

Excerpts from the Congressional war front

2011-12-19T21:15:00.000-08:00

Wow, this fight over the payroll tax cut extension has gotten nasty -- and based on the latest maneouvring, I think that the GOP has downright screwed itself. We'll see, but I think there are two key principles to remember about this:

1. There's no doubt about who's at fault for this mess, the Republicans, specifically the Tea Party.
2. When in doubt, blame the Republicans. You'll never be wrong.

OK, so awaaaay we go:

Payroll tax cut extension in doubt amidst Republican uproar

"House Republicans have a point. Making tax policy two months at a time is no way to make tax policy. But House Republicans are the reason the Senate was opting for a two-month extension of the payroll tax cut. If they agreed to a clean, year-long extension of the payroll tax cut, the bill could pass in the next 10 minutes.
Instead, they've opted to tie it to the Keystone XL Pipeline. And as bad as it is to make tax policy in two-month increments, it's even worse to make controversial energy and environmental decisions using unrelated tax-policy measures -- and their deadlines -- as cover."

Next - the answer is YES.
Question: "The opposition from Tea Partyers raises the question: Is denying Obama a victory — one that would help the economy, which could make Obama’s reelection prospects a shade brighter — a higher priority for them than even cutting taxes?"

"This latest impasse reveals just how extreme, intransigent, self-indulgent and hostile to basic norms of governing the Tea Party wing has become. It’s as if compromise itself must be opposed, for its own sake, regardless of what any particular compromise contains. This is another case in which the public is seeing with total clarity the disastrous results of giving the Tea Party a seat at the governing table." (click excerpt for full article)

Give 'em hell, Harry:

Harry Reid: Payroll Tax Cut Bill Must Pass Without Further Negotiations
"My House colleagues should be clear on what their vote means today. If Republicans vote down the bipartisan compromise negotiated by Republican and Democratic leaders, and passed by 89 senators including 39 Republicans,their intransigence will mean that in ten days, 160 million middle class
Americans will see a tax increase, over two million Americans will begin losing their unemployment benefits, and millions of senior citizens on Medicare could find it harder to receive treatment from physicians," Reid said."

According to latest reports, the House is going to reject the Senate bill (passed with 89 votes, which means that a lot of sensible Republican senators -- a phrase that it is extremely hard for me to write -- voted for it. So the insane GOP in the House, led by Boner Boehner, are screwing the middle class.

Again. See the two principles again.

A tip; getting her sloshed increase your chances of getting lucky

2011-12-17T23:21:00.000-08:00

I rather think that this has been common knowledge for a long time, but now there's ofeeshul veryfickashun that getting a chick drunk improves one's chances of scoring with her:

Alcohol can lead to unsafe sex: It's official

"Alcohol consumption, especially heavy drinking, has long been associated with HIV incidence. However, there have been doubts about the cause-and-effect relationship. Researchers weren't sure if alcohol consumption caused HIV via unsafe sex, or whether certain personality traits in individuals, such as sensation-seeking or a disposition to risky behaviour in general, would lead to both alcohol use and unsafe sex.

The study, published in the January issue of the journal Addiction, summarizes the results of 12 experiments that tested this cause-and-effect relationship in a systematic way. After pooling the results, the researchers found that alcohol consumption affects decision-making, and that this impact rises with the amount of alcohol consumed. The more alcohol that participants consumed, the higher their willingness to engage in unsafe sex."

Well, actually, I guess there's a predilection for sex already established, and drinking just makes it more possible to do it without protection. But I think there's an obvious corollary that getting one's potential partner inebriated increases the chance of sex in general -- and since such random acts are unsafe to being with, whether or not protection is involved makes it even more unsafe at any speed.

OK, so how exactly did they test the relationship? I mean, how were they SURE that this was true?

We're going to need more of this type of thing

2011-12-17T23:10:00.000-08:00

It seems somewhat repulsive to say it, but if we converted all of the fecal material (human and animal) that we currently collect into biofuel, we'd have a lot of biofuel. And given the drawbacks to the other kinds of biofuel feedstocks that I discussed a few posts ago (in light of the article describing their drawbacks), maybe crap is the way to go for the biofuel industry.

Turning Pig Manure into Oil Fosters Sustainability in a Crowded World

Musing on freebie lists

2011-12-17T23:03:00.000-08:00

Ever heard of a "freebie" list? It's defined as a list of women (for men) and men (for women) for which spouses would allow their spouse to enjoy sexual relations with, if such an unlikely chance ever arose. I was going back over my freebie list(s), and found the following:

Current all-time Top 5 Freebie List:
1. All-around: Salma Hayek
2. For the body: Julianne Hough
3. For the attitude: Zoe Saldana (and she's currently single! I have a shot! NOT.)
4. For the glory: Brooke Burke
5. For fun: Kelly Ripa

All Brooke list: Burke, Burns, Berry, Morales, Shields, Hogan, Daniels, D'Orsay (Royal Pains), Ashlynn Brooke (cheating by using her last name), Lauren Brooke Thompson (that's REALLY cheating -- but she's FABULOUS).

All Kelly list: Ripa, Brook, Carlson, Monaco, Hu, Preston, Minka (that's cheating!), Rowland, Pickler (alternate spelling),& Carrington (splendiferous blonde Floridian Playboy Playmate)

Then there's my figure skater freebie list, my Olympic sport athlete freebie list, my Dancing with the Stars contestant freebie list...

One way to improve the approval ratings of Congress

2011-12-17T22:38:00.000-08:00

OK, I am seriously ticked off at Congress for their naked political play to add the Keystone pipeline rider to the payroll extension bill. It is so damned obvious, bare knuckled politics. The best way to go for Obama is to not approve it, noting that the State Department won't approve it anyway if the proper environmental studies aren't finished, and so if he DID approve it and they didn't, there wouldn't be any pipeline anyway -- and rushing the approval process is a virtual guarantee of a thumbs-down from State. Now, the rude-as-nude GOP would try to spin the non-approval as an economy drag, and a capitulation to environmentalists, and that might play in the Heartland, but Obama needs votes in a lot of states (like California) where Keystone disapproval will play well widely. If he approves it, he loses a lot of votes of environmentally-minded independents. Now, given the intransigence of the GOP and the disaster that electing a Republican president in this environment would precipitate, I don't believe that most voters who recognize this danger would abandon the Prez even if he approves Keystone, but I also think that they (like me) would be much happier if he didn't.

So I really don't want to improve the approval ratings of the dismal GOP in Congress, but if that had to be done, electing a very gorgeous female representative who includes a Playboy appearance on her list of qualifications, such as just happened in Russia, might kick their percentage points up a few notches.

I've got to fix the headline a little; those who pose in Playboy are not by definition "bunnies".

Vladimir Putin appoints Playboy model Maria Kozhevnikova to Parliament

Now, I don't know exactly how the Russian system works, but I think she actually got elected, not appointed. It could be that Putin appointed her to run for the seat as a representative of his party.

"Siberian hottie Maria Kozhevnikova, a member of Putin’s United Russia party, defended her boss days after winning a seat in Russian parliament to represent Tomsk."

Now, regarding the appearance in Playboy: searching reveals she did pose nude, i.e., without any clothes on, but strategic angles and artful placement of her blonde hair managed to prevent the exposure of those elements of the female physiology that would classify her as competely (alternatively, totally) nude. She's so beautiful and so fit it seems a shame that she couldn't just show her nipples too, but she didn't. Nonetheless, she's a fine-looking woman. I hope she will also be a credible representative of her constituents in Parliament.
Without much effort, all her pictures can be found, but I'll just provide a comely (and modest) picture of her.

Something like this could almost get me to vote Republican.

Almost.

Wait a minute - conservatives OPPOSE a tax cut?

2011-12-15T22:20:00.000-08:00

Well, I know as I write this that there is a deal in Congress to avert a government shutdown (again). I haven't read the details. I hope sincerely and I hope a lot that the Keystone pipeline is off the table.

But I wrote this before that happened, and I think it's still a legitimate comment.

Payroll tax cut and spending bill stall in Senate, raising threat of shutdown

Wait a minute -- conservatives OPPOSE a tax cut? Conservatives SUPPORT letting a tax cut lapse, raising taxes on the middle class?

"Their objections center on several GOP initiatives added to the bill to attract votes from conservatives, many of whom would not support the tax cut extension otherwise. They include a reduction in unemployment benefits, new rules that could require the unemployed to take drug tests and enroll in GED programs to receive benefits, and the delay of new regulations on boiler emissions."

How freakin' hypocritical is that??

How can I NOT post this?

2011-12-15T22:14:00.000-08:00

When Kelly Brook does a holiday unwrap strip tease, I am helpless but to comply. And the music is seasonal, too.

Unwrap me! Kelly Brook makes the most alluring Christmas present as she undresses for sexy advent calendar video

Really amazing pictures

2011-12-15T22:01:00.001-08:00

50 spectacular pictures

Here's something just gorgeous to look at. (And it's not a babe).

Photo by Christopher Zimmer.

Bad news from Areva

2011-12-15T21:50:00.000-08:00

French nuclear giant Areva suspends investment in sites

"French nuclear giant Areva said Tuesday it is suspending building work at several sites in France, Africa and the United States, one day after forecasting a 1.6 billion ($2.1 billion) euro loss."

France has been leading the way on continuing use of nuclear power in the world energy system; this latest setback is not very promising. Still, given China's nice words and slight bit of action in Durban, I think that the nuclearization of the Far East and India will continue apace.

Happy birthday, Emmanuelle

2011-12-12T23:04:00.000-08:00

Emmanuelle Chriqui just turned 34. In tribute, I must post a hot photo of Emmanuelle Chriqui.

Mission accomplished.

I thought biofuels were a good idea

2011-12-12T22:57:00.000-08:00

EVEN though I'm a nuclear energy industry consultant and advocate, I recognize that the transportation sector will be reliant on liquid fuels for a long time (except maybe if widespread hydrogen production can result from the invention of solar-powered leaves

Now, burning of fossil fuels is not good for the Earth's climate future, but we have been led to believe that burning biofuels, fuels made from biologically-based feedstocks, would be fine, because the logic goes that the biological things took the CO2 out of the atmosphere, so burning them just puts the CO2 back where it was.

But this might not be such a perfect system after all. A recent study (now, granted, this is only one study, and deserves to be examined closely) indicated that biofuels don't do what they're supposed to do.

Now, their has been a knock on corn ethanol because it requires a lot of input to grow corn. But supposedly stuff like switchgrass works better. So here's what they did:

"The researchers focused on the major mandated and currently used biofuels worldwide: corn ethanol, soybean biodiesel, cellulosic ethanol from switchgrass grown in the United States, canola biodiesel produced in Europe, and sugarcane ethanol produced in Brazil and exported to the United States or Europe.

They evaluated them in terms of their contribution to reducing fossil fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions. They also compared their costs and effectiveness to two alternative policies: an increase in the gas tax and the implementation of energy efficiency improvements."

Results:
""Each dollar spent on energy improvement programs would be 20 times more effective in reducing fossil fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions than a similar cost for the corn ethanol program," Jaeger said. "Likewise, a gas tax increase would be 21 times more effective than promoting cellulosic ethanol."

YIKES. That's not even CLOSE.

Regarding the laws to produce a certain amount of biofuel: The researchers concluded that all of these biofuel mandates combined would reduce fossil fuel use by less than 2.5 percent, or the same amount that a gas tax increase of 25 cents per gallon could achieve, but at an estimated cost of $67 billion compared with a cost of $6 billion with a gas tax."

GEEZ, order-of-magnitude!!!

So I conclude that we should a) make hydrogen, b) increase nuclear power generation, as Bill Gates is working with the Chinese to do, c) drastically work on increasing energy efficiency, on a pseudo-war footing, if necessary, and d) pass an increase in the national gas tax.

If I was in charge, we'd be DONE already!

Another indication that it's real

2011-12-12T22:51:00.000-08:00

Climate change driving tropical birds to higher elevations

There's much unwarranted debate about the reality of climate change, regarding whether or not the data is accurate, how much global warming is happening, whether or not it'll be serious, etc. When "cornered", such as when the Berkeley preliminary announcements came out, before the counter attacks were organized and mounted, some of the skeptics denied (ha) that they had denied global warming is actually happening, insisting instead that they are just disputing how much is happening, how it's happening, and how much eventually will happen in the future.

Part of that argument was completely disingenuous, because the entire point of casting uncertainty on the ground station weather data was to attribute a warming signal to something else, like increasing urbanization or the installation of a nearby air conditioner. And it was also disingenuous because all but the really marginal skeptics admit that the atmospheric data is showing warming too (though atmospheric warming scientist Roy Spencer blaims it on warmth manufactured by increasing cloud cover, or something silly like that).

Leaving that aside, one of the potent reminders that global warming is REAL and is HAPPENING is that the denizens of nature are responding to it. And this article is another example of that.

"Moving to the north doesn't help them, because tropical temperatures do not change very much with latitude. So moving up to higher elevations is the only way to go, but there are few historical data that can serve as baselines for comparison over time."

The payroll tax and the Keystone pipeline

2011-12-12T22:41:00.000-08:00

Payroll tax: Mitch McConnell wants to call Obama's bluff

"Earlier this week, the number two Republican in the Senate, Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), said that there would be no further negotiation regarding the payroll tax cut, and that the bill that comes from the House -- which includes Keystone -- is the one the Senate must pass.

"The package that comes from the House is it," Kyl said. McConnell declined to specifically say whether he agreed with Kyl.

McConnell said that a "significant number of Democrats" both in the Senate and House support the package Obama has promised to veto."

Can you believe the gall of these bastards?

Once again, the Republicans simply have to play politics. As has been widely described, they are getting squeezed on the payroll tax issue. Let it lapse, and it's their fault that the average Americans get a tax increase. After all, this is the party that defined letting temporary tax cuts lapse and the tax brackets go back to where they were (which is what has to happen for the disastrous W Bush-era tax cuts) as a tax increase. Dolts. But by that logic, letting the payroll tax lapse is a tax increase, and we know the GOP can't abide a tax increase. Oh yeah, and letting the payroll tax cut lapse could also hurt the economy by impacting average American buying power.

They're also getting squeezed because the way proposed to pay for the payroll tax cut extension is a small little increase on millionaires. But that can't happen because a) it's a tax increase, and b) it's on the 1% or so of the people that the GOP is protecting at all costs so that they can keep every little bit of their millions.

This is intolerable. (For the GOP, that is.)

Faced with intolerability, the GOP has decided to punish the President, and human society in general, by trying to force the President to sign a fast-track for the Keystone pollution-importing, climate-damaging tar sands oil pipeline. They want to make the President veto it, so that they can claim that the President isn't interested in creating jobs (even if they are unsustainable jobs in the climate-damaging energy industry) and that he was the one that blocked the payroll tax cut extension, rather than their holier-than-thou selves. [Oh yeah, and they also want to roll back pollution regulations and make a few spending cuts while they're at it.]

Because this is utterly bodacious politicking, we can see through all the holes in this tactic. For once it would be frigging refreshing if the GOP would do something for the good of the country rather than try to twist every possible situation into something that might possible make it harder for Obama to get reelected. If they really wanted to gain friends in the independent middle class (and that represents a lot of voters), tax the millionaires, pass the extension, and see what happens. I'll bet, except for the Tea Party howlin' Jims, that this would actually go down well politically on a lot of fronts. But don't tell that to the lame old men in the Senate and the House who claim to have been elected for the good of the American people.

Because they're only in it for themselves. And their millionaire cronies.

Ashley Greene south of the border

2011-12-11T22:07:00.001-08:00

The hottest actress in the Twilight series, Ashley Greene, appears in Esquire's Mexico edition. Below is my choice for the best picture in the article, with her doing the "sexy senorita" pose.

Ashley Grene [sic] in Esquire Mexico

If you didn't see this; Lindsey Vonn laps the field

2011-12-11T21:49:00.001-08:00

Lindsey Vonn uncorked an incredible downhill run, winning by nearly two seconds in a sport that is usually decided my a couple tenths.

Lindsey Vonn wins Lake Louise downhill

After seeing her training regimen in the "Lindsey Vonn: In the Moment" documentary, I can understand how she's capable of something like this. But it's still pretty amazing to actually witness her dominance.

He's a clown, he's a clown

2011-12-11T21:43:00.001-08:00

Early on in the short history of this blog I skewered Nils Axel-Morner. But not very well.

In the following, Mark Lynas and George Monbiot do it WELL.

The Spectator runs false sea-level claims on its cover

Here's an example excerpt:

"Mörner also claims in the Spectator article to speak on behalf of the INQUA (the International Union for Quaternary Research) commission on Sea Level Changes and Coastal Evolution, whose members he says are "the world's true experts on sea level" – as opposed to the IPCC, which he asserts has "hijacked and distorted" the data. Mörner was indeed president of this commission until 2003. However, as documented by the Carbon Brief, INQUA now clearly dissociates itself from Mörner's views. Current president of the INQUA commission on Coastal and Marine Processes, Professor Roland Gehrels of the University of Plymouth, says his view do not represent 99% of its members, and the organisation has previously stated that it is "distressed" that Mörner continues to falsely "represent himself in his former capacity."

Truer now than then

2011-12-11T21:37:00.001-08:00

This is how Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain described the climate policy challenge in 2005 and, if anything, his statement is more germane now given prospects for prolonged international financial ills:

“The blunt truth about the politics of climate change is that no country will want to sacrifice its economy in order to meet this challenge.”

And this will hold true until such time that it becomes clear that the risks to the economy have become so great that action needs to be taken on climate change -- at which time it will be too late.

Late news from Durban is that countries have agreed to limit carbon emissions (CO2) starting in 2020 -- which is eight years too late. But not one country is willing to sacrifice any tiny bit of its economy, until imminent danger looms.

Bottom line: we, collectively as humanity, and the Earth we live on, are in trouble for a host of different reasons.

Comet fly-in, fly-by, and maybe break-up

2011-12-08T21:42:00.001-08:00

In case you haven't heard, next week (just after the total lunar eclipse that I am not longitudinally privileged to witness) a sungrazing comet is going to graze the Sun. According to the following article, we can watch the SOHO observations as-it-happens:

Sun-grazing Comet Lovejoy flies by the Sun

I was really impressed in this article when they said that at top speed, these sungrazing comets are moving at more than a million miles per hour.

This picture is of Ikeya-Seki, mentioned in the article. Comet Lovejoy is not expected to be this bright; but we can hope.

Their kids are going to be so ugly

2011-12-08T21:28:00.001-08:00

Retired rugby player Thom Evans and his girlfriend, the icon of curvaceousnes Kelly Brook, make a very fine looking couple:

So, the saying goes, they won't have gorgeous kids. I'm not sure I believe that.

Current research says (not sure if I believe this, either) that good-looking couples are more likely to have attractive daughters than attractive sons.

Beautiful people have more daughters

I told you so (China pollution)

2011-12-08T21:24:00.001-08:00

When someone is doing some kind of behavior that is bothering you, the first natural reaction is to ask them to stop, hopefully politely. If that doesn't work, then the next step is commonly to complain to them more vigorously, or attempt to find a way to make the person stop what they're doing. (Like calling security, or the authorities). If that route wasn't available, the next step after complaining and stronger appeals to desist might be physical force.

The aggravation factor might be compounded if the person doing the annoying thing isn't aware of it, or worse, IS aware of it but either denies that it's annoying, or doesn't admit that it's as annoying as you find it. That perception can lead to real disagreements and a real downside to any action that the offendee might make on the offender.

Of course, if there's a way to escape being influenced by the behavior, then that's a good way to go. But what if there wasn't?

Take as a somewhat gross example that you are unfortunately sitting next to someone on a bus who is regularly and strongly passing very odoriferous intestinal gas. You could ask them to stop, but they might not be able to. You could complain to them and hope they'd get off, get some Gas-X, and get on a different bus. If the bus wasn't crowded, you could try to move away from them. But how would you feel if you got to the point where you just flat out told them how obviously awful it was (which could have several backup passenger attestations), and they said either:

"Oh, just get used to it, it's not that bad," or
"So what, it's bad, what are you going to do about it?" or
"You gotta a problem with me? It's a free country," etc.

You and the other affected passengery would probably be ticked off at the offender's lack of awareness, sensitivity, and politeness. There is obviously a reasonable solution to someone really offensive and really unaware/obstinate about it, which would be to escort them off the bus. Might take a few people to do it. Which at a certain level is something that the gassy offender should have taken upon to do themselves -- get off and walk, before precipitating a conflict.

Well, right now the citizenry of China reminds me of passengers on a bus trapped breathing the emanations of a wealthy gassy person on a bus who is trying to get them to live with it by passing out small amounts of money. Even though the money is good, the citizens are getting more and more fed up with the situation, particularly because the person passing the gas still doesn't admit it's becoming
a serious problem. So these people are complaining that the person really has to be aware that he's offending them so badly, and do something, like get off the bus or change his/her diet.

With that introduction, read the following:

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Chinese_go_online_to_vent_anger_over_pollution_999.html

"Competitor Tencent's weibo users' posts on pollution generated a whopping 68 million comments, boosting the topic to the fourth most-discussed of the day.

Some linked the toxic air to other hot issues of the day, such as a manhunt for the bomber of a bank in central China, or a yoghurt drink made by Coca Cola that was deliberately poisoned, killing one.

"The bank explosion in Wuhan, poisoned milk in Changchun, serious air pollution in Beijing... Can we live or not? Or is it that I pay too much attention to the dark side of society?" web user Gaiyong wrote."

Weibo user "T_maoyangshenghuo" reacted angrily at comments from the spokesperson of the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau saying the smog in Beijing caused "slight pollution" over the last two days.

"Beijing citizens are speechless. Where is the serious pollution? In the brain of the spokesperson?" the message said.

and also this:
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Smog_sparks_debate_over_Beijing_air_standards_999.html

"For a quarter of the year, we can't see beyond 500 metres (yards) and the government shamelessly declares that air quality is good," said one critic on Sina's weibo, a hugely popular microblog. "Can't they tell us the truth?"

So the Chinese people are ticked off, and one of the things ticking them off is that the government isn't admitting the seriousness of the problem. I have often stated that China's environmental problems will lead to civil unrest. And the tone of these responses to the irritation, health effects, and disruption is that they're getting ticked off enough to consider throwing the Chinese government off the bus.

And if that happens, watch out.