So says the director of the instantly notorious Sharknado: Anthony C. Ferrante, the director of "Sharknado," studied the raining-animal phenomenon after he came up with the title "Sharknado," but kept hard science at bay, referencing one blood-soaked scene where a character uses a chainsaw to cut himself out of a shark that swallows him wholeContinue reading “Fun is a disaster that couldn’t really happen: Sharknado”
Category Archives: thinking out loud
David Brower’s Sky Rule (of photography)
From an interview with Amory Lovins, who began as a photographer, and recounts how his first editor — David Brower — who pioneered the much-loved Sierra Club nature books, would edit photographers: "Everyone knows the sky is there. So don't show it unless it's doing something interesting, and then show a lot of it." MaybeContinue reading “David Brower’s Sky Rule (of photography)”
How much of our climate change fear real? (Achenbach)
Joel Achenbach is a super-popular writer for the Washington Post who happens to be interested in science-y developments such as climate change, asteroids, and disasters. He's also a man with a giant pen, or, perhaps these days, keyboard. He can write! So refreshing in science, may I say. His latest thinking out loud, from thisContinue reading “How much of our climate change fear real? (Achenbach)”
Why conspiracies fail: U.S. government edition
Movie conspiracies — such as Three Days of the Condor — always work until a brave victim stands up to the bad guys and brings them down, usually violently, sometimes by informing the NYTimes. In real life, conspiracies usually fail because someone who is part of the plan screws up. (And this is whyContinue reading “Why conspiracies fail: U.S. government edition”
Why California is not going to ban fracking by initiative
At the enormously helpful Hydraulic Fracturing conference put on by the American Groundwater Trust, State Senator Fran Pavley concluded her talk by alluding to the possibility that if California voters feel that nothing is being done to protect their groundwater, they may take matters into their own hands and vote for an initiative to regulateContinue reading “Why California is not going to ban fracking by initiative”
How not to be a total jerk: Philip Larkin
Seems so simple when Jessica Hagy describes it: May not be that easy, though. In a letter (quoted in this long review by James Fenton) the English poet Philip Larkin also had what I thought was an insightful comment, though perhaps it's obvious in retrospect: The more sensitive you are to suffering the nicer person youContinue reading “How not to be a total jerk: Philip Larkin”
How to cause an earthquake: Inject fluids into a fault
Pump large amounts of fluids — such as "produced water" from fracked oil and gas wells — down an injection well and into an existing fault. It happened at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal, causing earthquakes in and around Denver back in the l960's. Geologists are concerned it could begin happening again, given the huge amount of shaleContinue reading “How to cause an earthquake: Inject fluids into a fault”
Hurricanes to be stronger AND more frequent: Emanuel
Kerry Emanuel, a leading analyst of hurricane behavior at MIT, has for years taken the position that hurricanes in the 21st century will be stronger, thanks to the global warming, but not necessarily more frequent. In fact, back in 2006, he published a paper arguing that no decadal shift could be detected in frequency ofContinue reading “Hurricanes to be stronger AND more frequent: Emanuel”
How to save the California condor: Earth Island Institute
Back in the 1980's, the population of the California Condor plummeted to a mere 22 birds. Wildlife advocates and officials had to make a choice: allow the population to wink out, or capture all the birds and put them in a breeding program. David Phillips, director of the Earth Island Institute, ruminates out loud aboutContinue reading “How to save the California condor: Earth Island Institute”
No such thing as a benevolent dictatorship: Orwell
What does the overthrow of the elected government in Egypt by the military mean? Wouldn't it be interesting to hear what George Orwell had to say about it? This month the New York Review of Books helpfully publishes an old letter of Orwell's, to leading critic and thinker Dwight MacDonald, on a related subject: Dictatorship. Continue reading “No such thing as a benevolent dictatorship: Orwell”
Kit Stolz 