Monthly Archives: February 2013

Seth humiliates Charlize in front of a billion people

The World's Most Famous Man throws it down, bringing the scorn to the 2012 Academy Awards and Seth McFarlane: in the thick of the “We Saw Your Boobs” song, which must have lasted five minutes all by itself, this line jumped out at me: “Jodie Foster in ‘The Accused’”. And I thought to myself “wait,Continue reading “Seth humiliates Charlize in front of a billion people”

Huge NextEra windfarm opens for business: Eagle dies

Can't resist a good picture of a threaened eagle: Turns out that in late January at a huge wind farm near Mojave operated by a company called NextEra, just a month after operations began, an eagle was found dead. U.S. Fish and Wildlife wasn't too happy about the project from the start, but Kern CountyContinue reading “Huge NextEra windfarm opens for business: Eagle dies”

David Perlman, the science reporter who just won’t quit

A few years back the science writer Chris Moody suggested we need to see scientists less as nerds and more as rock stars. Yes, and by the same token, great science reporters too.  In that vein, here's a lovely look at David Perlman, who has been reporting on science for the San Francisco Chronicle forContinue reading “David Perlman, the science reporter who just won’t quit”

Climate change: it’s not the heat, it’s the humidity

At least when it comes to working outdoors. An interesting study published this month in Nature looks at how rising levels of heat and humidity will impact work in military and civilian sites, and draws a broad conclusion:  By 2100 under active mitigation (Fig. 1c), the high stress of present-day India (green Fig. 1b) expandsContinue reading “Climate change: it’s not the heat, it’s the humidity”

The suburban form of crack — the potato chip

From a typically first-rate NYTimes magazine story by Pulitzer winner Michael Moss:  In 2011, The New England Journal of Medicine published a study that shed new light on America’s weight gain. The subjects — 120,877 women and men — were all professionals in the health field, and were likely to be more conscious about nutrition,Continue reading “The suburban form of crack — the potato chip”

Now that the three point shot is golden, what about four?

Sam Farmer usually writes about football for the Los Angeles Times, but on All-Star Sunday he had a marvelous look at the three-point shot in the NBA, with the graphic to tell the story: The three-pointer, first used by the NBA on a trial basis in the 1979-80 season, has morphed from a lightly usedContinue reading “Now that the three point shot is golden, what about four?”

How Obama can get it done for a safe climate: Brownstein

Ronald Brownstein, perhaps the foremost political print journalist of recent years, in Quartz explains how and why the President will make a move to protect the climate.  Note that the story begins with a fact the left and environmentalists generally will not like. Though President Barack Obama lavished attention on climate change in both his inauguralContinue reading “How Obama can get it done for a safe climate: Brownstein”

Billionaire vs. climate change: Thomas Steyer

Wonderful story from Juliet Eilperin in the Washington Post on a Bay Area billionaire who has put his money — many millions of dollars — where his mouth is on climate change: Steyer is taking on a []prominent public role. On Sunday, he spoke to a crowd that organizers estimated at 35,000, gathered on theContinue reading “Billionaire vs. climate change: Thomas Steyer”

The environmental regrets of James Fennimore Cooper

In the first of the famous Leatherstocking Tales, a novel called The Pioneers, in the introduction the author mentions a regret about the arrival of the white man to the Otsego region of upstate New York: Though forests still crown the mountains of Otsego, the bear, the wolf, and the panther are nearly strangers toContinue reading “The environmental regrets of James Fennimore Cooper”