I’ve been re watching the old West Wings and was prompted to share this clip (which I found on YouTube) with you.
Tag Archives: Uncategorized
Make $20 and support a good cause at the same time!
American currency uses the phrase “In God We Trust” which is a clear violation of the First Amendment of the US Constitution. This is to the First Amendment roughly like saying “No Guns Allowed” everywhere would be to the Second Amendment, but if we did that to the Second Amendment people would be up in arms (as it were). But since it is merely the First Amendment nobody cares.
Anyway, that is what our money says now, but in the past, it did not say that. The “In God We Trust” was added during the Red Scare, when American started putting screenplay writers in jail and neighbors turned in neighbors over their political views. The nation, it would seem, had a strong need to get in bed with god during the 1950s and early 1960s. Maybe this is because we were the first and only nation to drop Atom Bombs on other people and we were frightened four our souls. Who knows?
Anyway, there is still some of that old, pre “In God We Trust” money left, and Minnesota Atheists are auctioning some of it off to raise money to fund Atheists Talk Radio. As you know, Atheist Talk Radio often does interviews with interesting scientists, and sometime I do those interviews myself. (Sometimes I’m the one being interviewed.) So you know if they’re doing science, it’s a good show. I’ve interviewed John Hawks, Don Prothero, Kevin Zelnio and John Abraham, Martin Rundkvist and Yusie Chou, Neil deGrasse Tyson, PZ Myers, Ira Flatow, and Massimo Pigliucci. And more.
This is your opportunity to help raise a little bit of money for Minnesota Atheists. The money is being auctioned off here, on Ebay. PLEASE GO RIGHT NOW AND PLACE A BID so you can have a nice, framable god-free twenty dollar bill.
The auction ends in just a few hours so ACT QUICKLY!!!!
If you place the winning bid tonight, you’d be funding most of one Sunday’s worth of show time, approximately.
Whoopie Goldberg on Twitter
In the early/middle part of the interview.
Forward on Climate Rally – February 17, 2013
“Thank you to the nearly 50,000 who demonstrated on Presidents Day Weekend at the Washington Monument, the thousands at 20+ solidarity rallies across the country, and the more than one million online activists who stood up and spoke out to tell President Obama that right now its time to move Forward on Climate.”
Amazing Scar Left By Tornado
This is not new, but I just found out about it from Paul Douglas’s blog. Back in 2011, an F3 tornado touched down and went straight for over 60 km. The beast (that’s the technical for a big-scary-tornaod) was almost a kilometer wide. It left an impressive scar, which you can see in this photograph:
More recently, when so called “Nemo the Storm” swept across the same region, the scar became plainly visible, as shown in this image:
The ultimate plan for gun control
Duck Stamps and Duck Hunting
I just put up a post in 10,000 Birds reporting on a recent study of duck stamp sales and duck hunting. There have been changes in recent years in the patterns of both waterfowl hunting and the purchase and use of federal duck stamps. Waterfowl hunters are required to have a duck stamp, and about 90% of the funds raised through the sale of these artistic quasi-philatic devices are used to secure wildlife preservation areas. For decades, duck population numbers and duck stamp sales were closely correlated, but recently this correlation has broken down. Read the post to find out the details and possible explanations.
There has been a discussion about the idea of developing a federal wildlife stamp that bird watchers or other nature enthusiasts could buy, either voluntarily or as a requirement for access to certain wildlife areas, to supplement wildlife protection projects. Such a stamp would also bring non-hunters to the table and secure a position for them as stakeholders in conservation policy making. While hunters clearly contribute to wildlife protection (up to the point that they pull the trigger and shoot a wild thing, that is!) it is also true that non-hunters both benefit from wildlife protection and would like to do more to make a contribution. The current situation in many states seems to be that hunters have more of an influence in conservation policy than perhaps they should given that they are only one part of the equation. But licensing fees for hunting, including duck stamp sales, may give hunters more of a voice in the process than one would expect in considering the diverse range of individuals who support and benefit from conservation. A wildlife stamp would help increase available funds for these projects and result in a more even distribution of influence.
Again, go read the post for more details.
Whoopie Goldberg on Twitter
In the early/middle part of the interview.
Happy Valentine’s Day, Everyone. Here’s a card for you:
And, Happy Birthday Amanda!
The Credibility of the Anti-Climate Change Science Industry
So, I posted something at Daily Kos you might find interesting:
As we wrestle with hard science and hard policy and the interaction between the two, the real problem we face are made much harder to solve because of the seemingly incessant drumbeat of science denialism.
Climate change is real and is mainly caused by humans, but climate change science denialism is an industry, a cottage industry, or a hobby for many. Big oil pays for the production of anti climate science rhetoric and activism. Anti climate science activists exhibit bizarre non-scientific behavior that goes beyond denying anthropogenic climate change. It may be hard to tell if the denialist activism in this important area of science and policy is something people are driven to do by vocation, or if they make a living at it.
At the end of his rope: The execution of William Williams
Minnesota has three things you may have heard about: Cold weather, “Minnesota Nice,” and a vigorous training program in Passive Aggressive Behavior (PAB). Unless you know about things, you probably didn’t know any of that.1
The part about the cold weather is neither here nor there with Global Warming causing it to go away. The latter two are interrelated and complex, and can only be understood through a great deal of analysis. And, since we don’t have time to put everyone in the state into Freudian therapy, I’ll just give an example. Continue reading At the end of his rope: The execution of William Williams
SSA 2013
BBC Gets Climate Change Correction Story Wrong(ish)
I already told you about this. In a BBC/David Attenborough special on Africa, this specific statement was made: That part of the African continent had warmed by 3.5 degrees. This was corrected by Leo Hickman. That datum is invalid. Africa has indeed been affected by climate change, but that specific factoid is incorrect. Now, the BBC is patting itself on the back for correcting the special, but they are doing it wrong.
From the BBC Story:
The presenter then commented on the additional challenges presented by climate change, adding that parts of Africa now face higher temperatures.
However, a BBC statement, said: “There is widespread acknowledgement within the scientific community that the climate of Africa has been changing.
“We accept the detail is disputable and the commentary should have reflected that, therefore the line of commentary has been edited out of Sunday’s repeat and iPlayer version removed.”
They continue to say that climate change is real and affects Africa, and they make reference to an error in the documentary. But the error in the documentary is a) very specific and b) not entirely unrelated to reality, though the datum itself is totally bogus.
Here’s my quote mined version of the BBC statement: “parts of Africa now face higher temperatures…[but] the detail is disputable… [and] has been edited out of Sunday’s repeat and iPlayer version removed”
They should have been more clear about this.
Forward On Climate Blogathon
Today, a new Climate SOS Blogathon starts at the Daily Kos. I’ll be contributing a post tomorrow, which I’ll let you know about. The other contributors include an amazing list of bloggers, scientists, policy experts, and at least one federal level elected official of which I’m aware.
The first blog posted is: Keystone XL pipeline is not in the U.S. National Interest by A. Siegel who blogs at Get Energy Smart. NOW!!!!.
The list of posts will be managed HERE.
Convergence: Just a few months away!
Don’t forget to register for CONvergence. If you register early you get a break on the rate. Details at their site.
For those who don’t now, CONvergence is the largest fan run fantasy and science fiction convention, and it is held in the Twin Cities at or near the 4th of July. And, even better, every year for the last several years, Skepchick has organized a bunch of panels at The CON on skepticism, science and stuff, and for the last few years I’ve been invited to be on some of those panels, and have helped organize. Last Year Free Thought Blogs joined with Skepchick so some of those bloggers came as well.
I’m hoping to see you there! (Depending on who you are, of course.)
Anyway, get your tickets.