Republican Senators diss their idiot-level colleagues

Quoting from "The Cuckoo Caucus", by Peter Finn on The Hill:

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) called efforts to defund ObamaCare in this manner “dishonest” and ‘hype.” A noted fiscal hawk, Coburn says he would “love to defund it ... but it will not work.”

Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) said it was “foolish” not to fund the government. Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) called it “terror politics.”Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) referred to it as “shenanigans.”

Finally, Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) said: “The only way Republicans will lose the House is to shut down the government or default on the debt ... it makes you look politically irresponsible.”

And let's remember, these are their ideological partners.  As for the more rational of us, we know that the Tea Party wing of the GOP is just plain crocked.

My favorite superhero might get back on TV

For some reason, the Flash was my favorite superhero when I was growing up.  And I also thought the short-lived TV series with John Wesley Shipp as the Flash was reasonably well done (and it provided a limitation on superhero powers, which is slightly unusual).  So this looks like an  interesting development.  They set this up with an allusion to Central City, and now it looks Dr. Barry Allen -- the most famous Flash, even though there were others -- will make an appearance as early as this fall.

Flash Arrow spin-off

A sonnet for the last day of July

The Sun rises, and so do I


So many odes have dedicated lines
and stanzas to the scattered glory in
a sunrise;  it is both the vibrant signs
of spectral color prior to the fin
of solar orb's appearance, and the mark
of each new day's commencing.  Ev'ry start
is marked with unburnt hopes that just a spark
could set ablaze -- and now I feel my heart
and soul and being looking to the east
as dawning layers flame, as I believe
that I will view the freshness of her feast,
the newness of her nudity, and leave
my lonely night behind. I know not when;
but I will be in handsome state at then.

As good as the interdimensional travel sequence in 2001: A Space Odyssey

Back in 1968, the cinematic sequence in which David Bowman enters the Star Gate and goes on an interdimensional jaunt was very, very trippy. This video of colored oil and water droplets has a similar visual effect. 

Wooh, baby, this is COOL.

It's happening again

 Scientists watch arctic cyclone chew up sea ice

Last year there was a strong mid-summer Arctic storm that initiated massive loss of sea ice.  This year there's one going on now, and though not as strong as last year's, the sea ice is even  thinner.  August is going to be very rough for the Arctic sea ice cover.

Whoa, now THIS is news

 Suddenly, climate change is politically potent

It will be interesting to see if this is a political trend, or a political blip. It makes sense that the informed younger generation is not buying the propaganda and ploys of the deniers, but it's good that they also see those who are selling it (and apparently buying it, i.e. the pols, who re-espouse it) are quacks and crocks.  Much of the younger generation is better informed, DESPITE the ability to find bad informatin that confirms one's viewpoint on the Internet.  But kids are also in tune with their situation, and they can see what's happening;  floods, fires, droughts,  heat waves, "weird weather".  Even if they don't have the benefit of hindsight, the liberal young-uns can also see that there is a strong connection between a lot of the far-right positions that clearly don't appeal to them and the bashing of climate science by the same proponents of  those loony tune far-right positions. 

The problem is the entrenchment of the right in the political landscape.  So it's good to hear that Holder is going after the egregious civil rights legislation showing up in Texas and especially North Carolina.  The more they look bad and the more they show themselves taking away our rights to vote and breathe clean air and drink clean water and hopefully have a livable Earth, the more the young people will want them out.

And that's the final piece of this, I think.  The young people of the country and the world are concerned about their future.  They can see and sense and hear about the problems, and they don't want a world that is becoming increasingly unstable;  health-wise, climate-wise, and politics-wise.  They are really getting DOWN on the GOP old guard that apparently wants to perpetuate an increasingly untenable status quo with respect to the climate and the environment, and that means to me that this trend might have legs.

Waking up to the NEED for nuclear energy

Two articles confirm the viewpoint that I've known and said and advocated for several years.  My industry of career choice, nuclear energy, is NEEDED by the world to address climate change.  You can see the articles below.  One is by ex-NASA scientist James Hansen, who is really concerned about this, and who sees nuclear as really one of the only ways to start reversing climate course in the necessary near future.  The other indicates, as I also know, that the real problem is not climate change, it's ENERGY.  The world needs energy and will continue to need energy, more of it.  To make that energy less carbon-intensive and less climate-affective, renewables, though I admire them, won't provide enough of what's needed.

Nuclear energy is taking some hard knocks right now for being expensive, potentially dangerous (even though as Hansen notes it has probably saved many, many more lives, and will save more in the future, if you do the math right, than it has taken), and technologically challenging.  But new strategies, such as waste-consuming reactors, modular fail-safe designs, and small reactors, such as those on nuclear ships and submarines, can effectively address many of those concerns.  What is needed is concerted and mutual effort.  The pressing concerns of climate change, when the idiot diddies who dispute it are dealt with, can move us in the direction that will provide a secure energy future and a better-than-bad climate future.

Article 1:  Jim Hansen presses the climate case for nuclear energy

Hansen:  "I think the only hope we have of phasing down emissions and getting to the middle of the century with a much lower level of fossil fuel emissions — which is what we will have to do if we want young people to have a future — we’re going to have to have alternatives and at this time nuclear seems to be the best candidate."

Article 2:  Global warming is not the world's top problem, energy is

"The obvious bridge to a cleaner energy future, one that does not bring runaway greenhouse gas emissions, is nuclear power. But activists are entrenched against it in America - unlike their political ancestors, modern liberals only care about poor people when it comes to demonizing the wealthy. Actual technological solutions that can provide cheaper, cleaner energy for the poor are blocked because activists are interested in addressing symptoms rather than cures. We're still somewhat handcuffed by resistance to nuclear power, resistance is almost autonomic even if people cannot remember why. "Pandora's Promise" director Robert Stone had a real uphill battle getting his documentary made because none of his usual backers - for his anti-nuclear and otherwise pro-environment pieces - wanted to be involved in that project. Being anti-nuclear is built into their cultural DNA. Pro- environment means anti-energy. Except it just isn't true outside fundraising brochures."

 These are great words and statements to read and think about.  But it's time to DO something.