Seriously. It’s below the fold:

Continue reading Don’t watch this video unless you want to get totally freaked out →

On Skeptically Speaking:

This week, we take another look at water, and what happens to it after it goes down the drain. Researcher Liz Borkowski joins us for a look at the connection between sewage and civilization, and the struggle to introduce modern sanitation in the developing world. And we’ll talk to Dr. Alistair Boxall, about the sources and effects of pharmaceutical contaminants in the environment.

This show records live on Sunday, 3/13 at 6 pm MT, and airs on CJSR on Friday, 3/18 at 6 pm MT. The podcast will be available to download by Noon MT on Sunday, 3/20.

Details.

From the Roman aqueducts to the latest research on what happens when you turn the tap, it’s an hour on water. Dr. William James joins us for a lesson on the history and technology of municipal water systems. And we’ll talk to University of Toronto researcher Dr. Marc Grynpas about the science and safety of water fluoridation.

TONIGHT Last Night! on Skeptically Speaking.

I wrote this notice two days ago but forgot to hit “Publish” …. well, anywah, the pod cast for Skeptically Speaking generally comes out late Sunday, so tune in then if you did not catch the show live.

Also, Sunday Morning (podcast usually out by the end of the day Sunday as well) Minnesota Atheist Talk Radio will have Jennifer McCreight.

I know a lot of pro-nukers are going to say things like “That’s not really an explosion” or “the plants behaved exactly as expected” and “bla bla bla” but whatever, here’s the film:

Continue reading Fukushima Nuclear Plant Explodes →

Now that space shuttle Discovery has returned from its last mission, NASA workers will start getting it ready for its next voyage — to a museum.

NASA is retiring its shuttle fleet this year, and 21 museums across the country are vying for the chance to become a retirement home for one of the iconic space shuttles.

I remember when John Glen’s space capsule toured and was displayed briefly in the State Capitol in Albany, in the same place they displayed the bodies of various touring dead presidents and other similar memorabilia. It would be really cool to visit the Space Shuttle in some museum especially if you got to go inside and sit at the controls and stuff.

The trouble is, NASA has only three spaceships — Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour — and the agency has said it intends to offer Discovery to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. That just leaves Atlantis and Endeavour, both of which are scheduled to fly for one last time this year.

Yeah, they should go for the highest bidder!

Rest of the story here.

A planet is considered “Class M” if it can sustain human life¹. We live on a Class M planet. However, the conditions that make a planet conducive to life may change over time, so it is important to have instrumentation and gauges and stuff that will keep track of important variables.

It is estimated that when about one trillion tonnes of fossil carbon is released into the atmosphere by human activities, we will have reached a critical point, at which time we may have to leave the planet².

We’re nearly half way there.

James Hrynyshyn at the blog Class: M has devised a sort of tricorder that keeps track of the carbon release count-down, and embedded it on the left sidebar of his blog. Go have a look.
Continue reading The Class-M Carbon Counter →

Continue reading Tsunami/Quake Videos →

Unions and Democracy are no longer major factors in the Badger State:

Wisconsin lawmakers voted Thursday to strip nearly all collective bargaining rights from the state’s public workers in one of the strongest blows to the power of unions in years.

The state’s Assembly passed Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s explosive proposal 53-42 Thursday. The state’s Senate approved it the night before after using a procedural move to bypass its AWOL Democrats.

Details

Which his excuse for being a dick. See how he lies and cheats:

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is upset that the federal government has squelched his right to own a super-toilet, leaving him with less freedom than women, who are still allowed to have abortions. It’s an unusual comparison, but it’s meant to underline his opposition to the executive branch’s involvement in encouraging energy efficiency.

In a Senate hearing, Paul laid in to Kathleen Hogan, deputy assistant energy secretary for efficiency, for imposing restrictions and fines meant to encourage people to use environmentally friendly appliances.

Read the rest of this incredible story here.

And the people of Kentucky are, of course, idiots for electing him. And having a Creation Museum. And so on.

Watch the one-termer in action:

What happened in #Wisconsin, and what happens next by Laura Conway:

Last night, Wisconsin State Senate Republicans stripped most public employees unions of most collective bargaining rights. After insisting for weeks that busting the unions was essential to balancing the state’s budget, they broke Governor Scott Walker’s “budget-repair bill” into two parts. One part contained the anti-union provisions, the other the items that Republicans now deemed fiscal.

Read the rest


The Uptake on Wisconsin Senate

Koch Industries Employs PR Firm To Airbush Wikipedia, Gets Banned For Unethical ‘Sock Puppets’ by Lee Fang

Last year, Koch Industries began employing New Media Strategies … ever since the NMS contract was inked with Koch, an NMS employee began editing the Wikipedia page for “Charles Koch,” “David Koch,” “Political activities of the Koch family,” and “The Science of Success” (a book written by Charles). Under the moniker of “MBMAdmirer,” … to distance the Koch family from the Tea Party movement, to provide baseless comparisons between Koch and conspiracy theories surrounding George Soros, and to generally delete citations to liberal news outlets. …

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Senate Bill 1854, introduced in the Florida Senate on March 5, 2011, would, if enacted, amend a section of Florida law to require “[a] thorough presentation and critical analysis of the scientific theory of evolution” in the state’s public schools. The bill is sponsored by Stephen R. Wise (R-District 5), who in February 2009 introduced SB 2396 (PDF), which would have amended the same section of Florida law in the same way. Before Wise introduced SB 2396, he announced his intention to introduce a bill requiring “intelligent design” to be taught in Florida’s public schools. “If you’re going to teach evolution, then you have to teach the other side so you can have critical thinking,”

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“Disingenuous efforts by creationists to portray themselves as persecuted in mainstream academia for their anti-evolution beliefs are getting a boost from a Texas lawmaker,” reported the Texas Freedom Network in a March 9, 2011, post on its blog. House Bill 2454, introduced in the Texas House of Representatives on March 8, 2011, would, if enacted, provide, “An institution of higher education may not discriminate against or penalize in any manner, especially with regard to employment or academic support, a faculty member or student based on the faculty member’s or student’s conduct of research relating to the theory of intelligent design or other alternate theories of the origination and development of organisms.” The sole sponsor of HB 2454 is Bill Zedler (R-District 96).

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Apparently, they voted without the Dems present. Oh hell, who needs teachers and stuff anyway.

Continue reading Republican War On Working Families →