As those radicals at USA Today put it: The National Climate Assessment, released this week, adds to a mounting and overwhelming body of evidence that the effects of rising temperatures are here and now — and that even higher sea levels, more extreme weather and water shortages are in our future if nothing is done. AddressingContinue reading “The blindness of GOP climate denial: USA Today”
Category Archives: art and humor
On love and global warming: True Detective
The HBO show True Detective included some of the most compelling filmed drama seen here in many a moon. But as much as most critics liked the show, what everyone liked was the credit sequence. Created by an Australian studio called Antibody, the creators told Art of the Pitch what they envisioned: We boarded out theContinue reading “On love and global warming: True Detective”
Between every two tall cacti is a door to a new way of life
On the PCT, in the Anza-Borrego desert, seeing two ocotillo beside the trail like gate posts reminded me of a famous quote of John Muir's. (Okay, I'm a nerd, I admit it.) The quote, from a note Muir made in a margin, goes something like this: Between every two pine trees is a door leadingContinue reading “Between every two tall cacti is a door to a new way of life”
Pulitzer Prize-winner on Shakespeare: What the hell?
From a great and wonderfully long interview with Tracy Letts, who won a Pulitzer for his knock-out play "August Osage County": I like Shakespeare, but I never know what the hell is going on. The actor David Pasquesi is a dear friend of mine, and we’ve talked about this before. He says, “I don’t knowContinue reading “Pulitzer Prize-winner on Shakespeare: What the hell?”
Pain can lead to growth: Geoff Dyer (and the research)
Geoff Dyer writes so well it seems somehow demeaning to call him a critic, but that's how the world slots him, pretty much, and in books like "Out of Sheer Rage" — his admiring account of D.H. Lawrence's battles — he helps redefine the form. At only 56, last week Dyer suffered a stroke, while livingContinue reading “Pain can lead to growth: Geoff Dyer (and the research)”
American public exceptionally dumb: Ted Rall
The 'toon below from Ted Rall is factually accurate. It's a fact that the much-reviled mainstream media reported on the NSA spying on Americans long before Edward Snowden spoke up. (To give an example, back in 2012 James Bamford in Wired reported that "The NSA…has the ability to eavesdrop on phone calls directly and in realContinue reading “American public exceptionally dumb: Ted Rall”
New kind of dinosaur discovered (by Tom Toles)
Meet the new dinosaur (aka "the 500-lb chicken from hell.") Tom Toles sees an irony: The new GOP faces the same climate reality as the old GOP.
Follow the Leaders (into climate change)
From artist Issac Cordal: Berlin, 2011 h/t: Barbara Medaille
Happy Birthday, Mr. Adams, and thank you —
Expect your images will live about as long as Yosemite Valley: “To the complaint, 'There are no people in these photographs,' I respond, There are always two people: the photographer and the viewer.” ― Ansel Adams
Polar Vortex images (from first week of 2013)
A number of publications last week published compendiums of amazing images from the polar vortex's drunken stagger, in Chris Mooney's wonderful story, across nearly all the nation save drought-stricken CA. Frozen lakes, waterfalls, etc. Here's NASA's GOES satellite picture: Fine. But what about the vortex of public reaction? Tom Toles sketches that one:
Kit Stolz 