Other than that …

Move over John Glenn, I’m a half century old today. So I’m taking it easy. Maybe that would be cause for the blues, but considering the crazy shit I’ve done over the years, from heads down vertical relative work skydiving to broken bones right and left, to a decade and a half of technical rock climbing half the classic routes in North America including El Capitan and then some, I’m fortunate to be alive and in one piece. This would be an off day in celebration, except it’s a holiday which means if I do work, I get double pay. Can’t pass that up in this dismal day and age.

Book review: The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars

The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars: Dispatches From The Front Lines by Dr. Michael Mann, Ph.D
Columbia University Press; Cost $10 to $30

Imagine a place where you and your family are threatened, your employer pressured by the most powerful people on earth to fire you, your email hacked and posted by the usual suspects in accusatory snippets, and where a mysterious letter containing white powder mixed in with tons of traditional hate mail land in your inbox. A suspected communist sympathizer during the McCarthy era, or a Muslim in the wake of 9-11? Nope. All because you helped make one of the most important scientific discoveries in a generation. That’s life in the land of the free and the home of the brave for prominent climate scientists these days, which is why I was personally thrilled to feature one yesterday who not only didn’t shrink an inch, he is fighting back, hard. [Read more…]

Ed’s right on the money about reality TV

Riffing off Ed’s post about reality TV, there are some shows that fall under the taxon that aren’t half bad. COPS, Survivorman, and Pawn Stars, just to name a few. They aren’t my top favorite shows, but they’re decent, interesting things happen, you might even learn something. And while there’s little doubt some of the scenes are staged or close to it, those three shows and others in the same vein really include some measure of reality.

But so many of the genera feature anything but reality. [Read more…]

The big difference between Mittens and Santorum on climate change

Santorum's NASA conspiracy incarnate. Who ya gonna believe?

Mitt Romney may have accepted the role humans are playing in global warming — before he was against it. But Tricky Rick Santorum has been priming the misinformation and character assassination industries consistently from the get go. Santorum, speaking at CPAC, demonstrates that, unlike Mittens, he may be sincerely clueless: [Read more…]