Author Archives: Kit Stolz

Bad News: Methane Release Threatens Planet — Good News: LA Times Still on the Climate Beat

Here's a strange good news/bad news story. This Sunday the top story on the front pages of the Los Angeles Times was a full-scale feature, complete with excellent graphics, on methane released by the softening of the permafrost. The good news is that the newspaper is still covering the climate beat in a serious way.Continue reading “Bad News: Methane Release Threatens Planet — Good News: LA Times Still on the Climate Beat”

Good News about Stress — Believe It or Don’t

Newsweek may be disappearing from newstands soon, but its medical coverage as of late has been superb. A couple of weeks ago came a story on The Two Sleeps that literally changed my life. (Instead of taking drastic measures to sleep through the night, do what nature suggests — sleep one shift, get up, takeContinue reading “Good News about Stress — Believe It or Don’t”

Hard Times, Kind People — What We Need in 2009, Says Lao Tzu

Have been reading a fascinating book about affective science, called Born to be Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life So what, you might say. These are hard times! I can't waste energy on frivolities! But what if the race amongst us hominids — chimps and people alike — goes not to the biggest, brawniest,Continue reading “Hard Times, Kind People — What We Need in 2009, Says Lao Tzu”

Oscar Forecasting by Logical Regression

Though he doesn't state his confidence level, super-statsman Nate Silver predicts the Oscar race in the major categories for New York Magazine with a regression analysis and a database thirty years deep. His logic appears impeccable: for instance, on Best Picture: Best Picture Slumdog Millionaire won all three awards associated with Oscar success: the DirectorsContinue reading “Oscar Forecasting by Logical Regression”

Biggest Storm of the Season? That’s It? C’mon now…

If this weekend's rain, totaling less than two inches in wet Upper Ojai, is the "biggest storm of the season" according to the Los Angeles Times, then we have problems. The prediction was for between one and three inches of rain. Hardly an awesome figure for a weekend. To date in the mountains of VenturaContinue reading “Biggest Storm of the Season? That’s It? C’mon now…”

Global Reality vs. George Will

Sunday in the Washington Post, in the news: The pace of global warming is likely to be much faster than recent predictions, because industrial greenhouse gas emissions have increased more quickly than expected and higher temperatures are triggering self-reinforcing feedback mechanisms in global ecosystems, scientists said Saturday. "We are basically looking now at a futureContinue reading “Global Reality vs. George Will”

The Melting in Antartica: Much Worse Than Predicted

Yale's potent Environment 360 site interviews a leading glaciologist, Richard Bindschadler, and hears some alarming news about the melt in the coastal Pine Island and Thwaites ice shelves…. e360: I know that the IPCC was saying maybe 1 ½ feet or a half-meter of sea level rise in the 21st century. Is it your opinionContinue reading “The Melting in Antartica: Much Worse Than Predicted”

The Romantic Museum of Great Russian Writers

On this Valentine's Day weekend, it's fitting to link to Geoff Manaugh, who likes to think about landscapes and the future, and comes up with an insanely romantic idea for a new museum. Begin with a relatively simple fact: Russian forensic scientists are testing blood samples found on a certain sofa where the great writerContinue reading “The Romantic Museum of Great Russian Writers”

“Information Wants to be Free”…

Apparently at the first Hackers' Convention, way back in l984, Stewart Brand declared that "Information wants to be free." It's a great phrase, unless you are a writer, a musician, an artist, or another "content provider," in which case the phrase is a ticket to poverty. The correct translation is, I believe, "people are freakingContinue reading ““Information Wants to be Free”…”