A couple of weeks ago the LA Times ran a guide for unemployment benefits in its business section (which is available here). To offer such guidance is a great idea. Every news publication that wants to be useful to its readership should be so helpful in these days of soaring unemployment. Unfortunately, the piece wasContinue reading “How Free-Lancers Can Get Unemployment Benefits”
Category Archives: subjects for further research
Phoenix: What Happens When a City Built on Growth Begins to Shrink?
At a session called Sustainability and Growth: How Can a City Develop Sustainably When its Identity is Built on Growth? this Monday morning at the American Meteorological Society convention a development expert named Grady Grammage colorfully dispelled some myths and revealed some little-known truths about Phoenix. One myth: Phoenix is unsustainable because it imports water.Continue reading “Phoenix: What Happens When a City Built on Growth Begins to Shrink?”
How Air Pollution Reduces Rainfall in Phoenix…and maybe L.A.
A grad student at Arizona State University, Bohumil Svoma, yesterday gave a fascinating talk at the American Meteorological Society convention on new research showing that tiny particles of air pollution, mostly from car tailpipes, work to reduce the amount of winter rainfall in the Phoenix area. It's a very clever study. Svoma and his advisor,Continue reading “How Air Pollution Reduces Rainfall in Phoenix…and maybe L.A.”
White House Officials Choreograph Torture Sessions
Political playwrights around the world sat up and paid attention this evening — or should have — as for the first time details about how the Bush administration "choreographed" the torture of Al Qaeda suspects became public. According to ABC NEWS, via TPM, a group called The Principals gathered in the White House to discussContinue reading “White House Officials Choreograph Torture Sessions”
The Black Swan Speaks: Beyond the Narrated
"We love the tangible, the confirmation, the palpable, the real, the visible, the concrete, the known, the seen, the vivid, the concrete, the emotionally laden, the salient, the stereotypical, the moving, the theatrical, the romanced, the cosmetic, the officials, the scholarly-sounding verbiage [b*****t], the pompous Guassian economist, the mathematicized crap, the pomp, the Academie Francaise,Continue reading “The Black Swan Speaks: Beyond the Narrated”
Sea-Level Rise, According to Michael Tobis
Michael Tobis, a climate scientist with a dry sense of humor and a wide-ranging thoughtfulness, succinctly discusses the crucial issue of sea-level rise on the globalchange Google group discussion list. (Look a few posts down, if you want the context.) He’s talking about Al Gore’s discussion of sea-level rise in "An Inconvenient Truth." Worth aContinue reading “Sea-Level Rise, According to Michael Tobis”
Why Undecided Voters Can’t Make Up Their Minds (Maybe)
This is a speculation on my part, but I think it makes a lot of sense. In the New Yorker a week ago, a writer looked at the science of reading. His piece, called Twilight of the Books raised crucial points for those of interested in democracy and concerned about American’s recent appetite for self-destruction.Continue reading “Why Undecided Voters Can’t Make Up Their Minds (Maybe)”
Nostalgia in the 21st Century: A New Sadness
A new kind of sadness is reported from Australia (via Wired). Australia is suffering through its worst dry spell in a millennium. The outback has turned into a dust bowl, crops are dying off at fantastic rates, cities are rationing water, coral reefs are dying, and the agricultural base is evaporating. But what really intriguesContinue reading “Nostalgia in the 21st Century: A New Sadness”
Well, It’s Not Exactly a Vacation, But It’ll Have to Do
Off to the AGU fall meeting. Back early next week. Come back then, and see about me…
Australia Wants Emissions Reductions Now
Could the drought have changed Australia’s mind about climate change? Days after former Prime Minister John Howard and his party were swept from power, a stunning 93% of Australians polled want "the country to reverse its rising greenhouse pollution in five years," according to a survey of almost a 1000 voters. The European Union‘s ambassadorContinue reading “Australia Wants Emissions Reductions Now”
Kit Stolz 