So . . . either some people feel it is both likely and unlikely that scientists falsified reports, or there are more people in America than there are people in America.
Either way, it explains the most recent elections.
Showing posts with label climate change. Show all posts
Showing posts with label climate change. Show all posts
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Where's Your Global Warming Now?
Yesterday was day two of freakishly high temps* in Northeastern PA. Over 90F (32C) in NEPA in May is bizarre. Well, it used to be bizarre. Now we get that sort of thing in April.
While I was trying not to melt last night, or just start crying from heat-induced crankiness, I thought about something. When it snows in February, climate change deniers are all over it. "Where's the global warming now?" they chortle, as if snow in February were somehow unusual, but when the temperature soars to well above normal, they never say a word.
Spleenweasels.
*Just for fun, it'll go down to the 60s (around 18C) tomorrow, and then we'll all get sick. We've been doing this for 2 months now.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Random Monday
1. Climate Change: It's 60 degrees outside (15C). I live in Pennsylvania, and it's January. That's about 30 degrees higher than it should be. (Highest normal temperature in PA for January: 32F/0C.) And just so everyone will get sick, the high for tomorrow is indeed 32.
2. The Weather (Wo)Man: In the Northeastern United States, winter is cold and snowy. It regularly gets well below freezing, and it regularly snows. If you so much as mention a snowfall of less than 6" (15.24cm), you will be forever known as that nervous person who is afraid of snow. So why does every single weather(wo)man treat 1/2" of snow as the first stage of the apocalypse?
3. Extreme Makeover Home Edition. My MIL loves this show. If you've never seen it, a bunch of terminally cheerful people replace a falling down home for free. I think it's exploitive of the poor/suffering, and a wonderful example of drive by charity (Here's a bunch of stuff- your life is all fixed now!). At this point, however, I am wondering when we will see the apex of pathetisad.
You see, the first season of the show, they picked poor families whose homes were falling down around them. Apparently, however, simply being so poor that you can't maintain your home, so that it becomes actively dangerous, just isn't enough. You need to deserve all this charity, so the recipients became increasingly pathetisad as seasons went by. Nowadays, you not only have to have an unbelievably sad present, you also need a pathetisad past and you have to give outrageously to charity- generally in terms of time, because none of these people have money.
So far, I've seen family with child dying of cancer who started a charity for other children with cancer. (The family got a nice house, the child died.) I've also seen Native American family living in a trailer without electricity with a wheelchair using family member. Last night, the featured family member was a Jamaican woman who, as a child, walked 8 miles to school and 8 miles back barefoot.
Then, for some reason, I had to listen to Ashanti blabbering on about how fixing this woman's house, and doing cosmetic work to other houses in the neighborhood, would teach the entire world to sing. Or something.
I figure we'll hit the apex of pathetisad sometime late this season, and then hopefully they'll end the show on a high note. Or, low note. It's a little hard to say.
4. Mass Effect 2: I actually don't need to say anything.
The music, btw, is Heart of Courage by Two Steps From Hell. It owns me.
2. The Weather (Wo)Man: In the Northeastern United States, winter is cold and snowy. It regularly gets well below freezing, and it regularly snows. If you so much as mention a snowfall of less than 6" (15.24cm), you will be forever known as that nervous person who is afraid of snow. So why does every single weather(wo)man treat 1/2" of snow as the first stage of the apocalypse?
3. Extreme Makeover Home Edition. My MIL loves this show. If you've never seen it, a bunch of terminally cheerful people replace a falling down home for free. I think it's exploitive of the poor/suffering, and a wonderful example of drive by charity (Here's a bunch of stuff- your life is all fixed now!). At this point, however, I am wondering when we will see the apex of pathetisad.
You see, the first season of the show, they picked poor families whose homes were falling down around them. Apparently, however, simply being so poor that you can't maintain your home, so that it becomes actively dangerous, just isn't enough. You need to deserve all this charity, so the recipients became increasingly pathetisad as seasons went by. Nowadays, you not only have to have an unbelievably sad present, you also need a pathetisad past and you have to give outrageously to charity- generally in terms of time, because none of these people have money.
So far, I've seen family with child dying of cancer who started a charity for other children with cancer. (The family got a nice house, the child died.) I've also seen Native American family living in a trailer without electricity with a wheelchair using family member. Last night, the featured family member was a Jamaican woman who, as a child, walked 8 miles to school and 8 miles back barefoot.
Then, for some reason, I had to listen to Ashanti blabbering on about how fixing this woman's house, and doing cosmetic work to other houses in the neighborhood, would teach the entire world to sing. Or something.
I figure we'll hit the apex of pathetisad sometime late this season, and then hopefully they'll end the show on a high note. Or, low note. It's a little hard to say.
4. Mass Effect 2: I actually don't need to say anything.
The music, btw, is Heart of Courage by Two Steps From Hell. It owns me.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Debunking the Debunking
environmentalism, global warming, climate change, the story of stuff, right, indoctrination, communism, socialism,
If you're like me, and have no real concern for the state of your heart or brain cells, you spend a lot time on conservative sites/blogs. Which means you've seen a lot of hysterical demagoguery concerning The Story of Stuff.
Basically, The Story of Stuff is a 20 minute video on the effects of human consumption, told in a child-friendly format. Of course, the right views this as "indoctrination" into communism by the left. Because we're all communists and we hate stuff. In fact, I don't even have stuff at my house. I don't even have a house. Good little communist that I am, I live in a field and eat off the land. Which makes it a little hard to explain this blog, but as a communist, I don't actually have to explain things.
What I can't figure out is, what parent wouldn't like to hear a little less "Mommy/Daddy/Whatever- buy me that! And that! And that, too!" As [redacted] pointed out, understanding that there is no cellphone fairy who magically provides batteries that never drain or die, and no magic involved in cell towers, and what all exactly is behind all of our "stuff" is apparently INDOCTRINATION now.
If the little boy's reaction in the New York Times' article is typical, The Story of Stuff is an excellent video.
Exactly, Rafael. That isn't just environmental good sense, that's economic good sense, too. Instead of 100 cheap plastic toys (imported from China, no less), get one great toy you'll play with for years.
Now why is the right opposed to that kind of thinking?
If you're like me, and have no real concern for the state of your heart or brain cells, you spend a lot time on conservative sites/blogs. Which means you've seen a lot of hysterical demagoguery concerning The Story of Stuff.
Basically, The Story of Stuff is a 20 minute video on the effects of human consumption, told in a child-friendly format. Of course, the right views this as "indoctrination" into communism by the left. Because we're all communists and we hate stuff. In fact, I don't even have stuff at my house. I don't even have a house. Good little communist that I am, I live in a field and eat off the land. Which makes it a little hard to explain this blog, but as a communist, I don't actually have to explain things.
What I can't figure out is, what parent wouldn't like to hear a little less "Mommy/Daddy/Whatever- buy me that! And that! And that, too!" As [redacted] pointed out, understanding that there is no cellphone fairy who magically provides batteries that never drain or die, and no magic involved in cell towers, and what all exactly is behind all of our "stuff" is apparently INDOCTRINATION now.
If the little boy's reaction in the New York Times' article is typical, The Story of Stuff is an excellent video.
And many children who watch it take it to heart: riding in the car one day with his parents in Tacoma, Wash., Rafael de la Torre Batker, 9, was worried about whether it would be bad for the planet if he got a new set of Legos.
“When driving by a big-box store, you could see he was struggling with it,” his father, David Batker, said. But then Rafael said, “It’s O.K. if I have Legos because I’m going to keep them for a very long time,” Mr. Batker recalled.
Exactly, Rafael. That isn't just environmental good sense, that's economic good sense, too. Instead of 100 cheap plastic toys (imported from China, no less), get one great toy you'll play with for years.
Now why is the right opposed to that kind of thinking?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
