Crushed under work today, but here’s a quote that deserves remembering, from an obscure but often charming book by Robert Heinlein called Glory Road: Logic is a way of saying that anything that didn’t happen yesterday won’t happen tomorrow. Could this be part of the reason that self-styled conservatives have so much trouble with theContinue reading “Robert Heinlein on Logic”
Author Archives: Kit Stolz
Bush Administration on Carbon Emissions: We Don’t Care, and We Don’t Care if You Know We Don’t Care
Ever write something and only realize later what you were really trying to say? Ever write and publish something and then realize what you were trying to say? This happened to me with the following post. Only after reading the comments (on Grist) did I realize the point. Even if you take the Bush administrationContinue reading “Bush Administration on Carbon Emissions: We Don’t Care, and We Don’t Care if You Know We Don’t Care”
Thinking About Polar Cities — Or Trying To
An interesting journalist named Dan Bloom, now based in Taiwan, has been agitating for consideration of one of James Lovelock’s more alarming ideas — polar cities. (Here’s his site on the subject.) I don’t have answers for Mr. Bloom’s difficult questions, but while I’m thinking on the subject, I want to quote on this SundayContinue reading “Thinking About Polar Cities — Or Trying To”
Hasta La Vista, Governor
Shocking news: the "post-partisan" Governor of California, the world-famous Arnold Schwarzenneger, may be moving to my neighborhood. That’s according to a rumor printed in the Ventura County Star. The Sacramento Bee recently reported that the couple made an offer on a property listed for about $6 million in Upper Ojai. It didn’t name an exactContinue reading “Hasta La Vista, Governor”
Seriously Warming
From McClatchey’s cartoonist Kevin Siers:
Spring Comes to the Arctic — Two Weeks Early
In a gently-written article from Greenland, Nature reports that spring is coming two weeks early in the Arctic. The discovery adds to the litany of changes to ecosystems that are occurring in response to changing climates around the world. But the rate at which changes are occurring in the high Arctic far outstrips that seenContinue reading “Spring Comes to the Arctic — Two Weeks Early”
The Fires of Life: Colin Fletcher, R.I.P.
When I was twelve or so, I stumbled across Welsh hiker Colin Fletcher’s classic book, The Complete Walker. Its blend of practicality and lyricism helped inspire me to become a somewhat-nervous young backpacker, mostly with friends and family. Later I headed off on my own, which for Fletcher was always the best way to go.Continue reading “The Fires of Life: Colin Fletcher, R.I.P.”
The Standard for Good Fathering Today
Joel Achenbach is a hugely popular blogger and writer for the Washington Post. Nonetheless, sometimes I just can’t resist quoting him: In generations past, there were many men who did not see their role in society as one that involved the direct nurturing of children. Some vanished into their jobs. Some dedicated their lives toContinue reading “The Standard for Good Fathering Today”
James Lovelock: “We Have to Change Our Whole Style of Living”
In an effort to open up important books on climate change to the broader public, and to implant their key points in my mind, I’m going to excerpt crucial passages. Here’s a central point from James Lovelock’s The Revenge of Gaia, published by a Penguin imprint in 2006: I am not recommending nuclear fission energyContinue reading “James Lovelock: “We Have to Change Our Whole Style of Living””
Sunday Morning on the Planet: Baby Birds
It’s been an unusually good year for birds in our little corner of Southern California. The huge winds of the Christmas season, which tore open our porch, encouraged birds to fly in and out, and one pair (of dark-eyed juncos, I think) moved right in and built a nest. Three little birds charmed us withContinue reading “Sunday Morning on the Planet: Baby Birds”
Kit Stolz 