Great excerpt from a book on the fate of polar bears, including a super-thoughtful discussion of why even highly reputable scientists turn to melodrama, in the under-appreciated Pacific Standard. Called: The Fuzzy Face of Climate Change. Highly recommended. Speaking of excerpts, here's a couple. The set-up question: Are polar bears threatened with extinction? Actual dataContinue reading “Why we melodramatize the fate of polar bears: Zac Unger”
Category Archives: thinking out loud
Maybe stories are just data with a soul: Brené Brown
Great talk from Brene Brown on vulnerability (not to mention shame, guilt, and fear). All the good stuff. Especially applicable at Christmas: Am I alone in struggling with vulnerability? No. So this is what I learned. We numb vulnerability — when we're waiting for the call. It was funny, I sent out something on TwitterContinue reading “Maybe stories are just data with a soul: Brené Brown”
Breath is God’s intent to keep us living: Mary Karr
The inimitable Mary Karr, author of the spectacular Liar's Club and Cherry, among other excoriatingly beautiful works, is known as a memorist, but deserves to be as well-known as her poetry. She has a clutch of good ones in this month's Poetry magazine (wonderfully laid out and free on-line, as always). This one is aboutContinue reading “Breath is God’s intent to keep us living: Mary Karr”
Terrifying geoengineering ideas: Ray Pierrehumbert at AGU
At his much-lauded (and deservedly so) AGU lecture on Successful Predictions (of global warming, a brief history) the delightfully witty Ray Pierrehumbert was asked about the feasibility of geo-engineering. His answer deserves quoting in full, in a text-searchable form: I see lots of [geo-engineering ideas] that are feasible, but they all terrify me. (Except for schemes forContinue reading “Terrifying geoengineering ideas: Ray Pierrehumbert at AGU”
AGU 2012: The Arctic turns towards the Dark Side
At a pre-conference mixer for this year's fall meeting of the AGU, I looked out at the teeming hordes and wondered — do I know anybody here? But then I ran into Kelly Redmond, who helps direct the Desert Research Institute, and is one of the nicest and most thoughtful climatologists I know, and unfailinglyContinue reading “AGU 2012: The Arctic turns towards the Dark Side”
Coffee is good for you: The Institute for Coffee Studies
It's okay! Even "a lot" of it, for those who like that sort of thing. That's according to a story in the Atlantic Wire, which has made quite a splash on the Web this year for its well-chosen topics and bright, chatty style. The first expert quoted. Dr. Peter Martin, encourages the drinking of coffeeContinue reading “Coffee is good for you: The Institute for Coffee Studies”
Why can’t we think practically about sleep?
Researchers want to know: One finding that might be surprising, given how much time we spend in our beds: Men and women don’t seem to give any consideration to sleep patterns when choosing a mate. Random thought: Why do we say "sleep like a baby?" Sleep like a dog is more like it…
Bear vs. people: How can we avoid killings?
Reporting in the Wall Street Journal implicitly challenges the endangered species narrative of wildlife* by bringing up the important fact that across vast regions in these United States, the forest has recovered from utter devastation at the hands of 19th-century Americans. With the forest has recovered a host of iconic species in vast numbers, includingContinue reading “Bear vs. people: How can we avoid killings?”
Thought experiment: Imagine the end of NYC by drowning
Can't really do it, can you? Don't worry, it's not you, it's us. If we can’t imagine our own deaths, as Freud insisted, how can we be expected to imagine the death of a city? From a great op-ed/essay by James Atlas. In today's New York Times, of course. With an image to match…
The only ones who know spring is coming: Jack Gilbert
The poet Jack Gilbert died this week, after a long illness (which usually means cancer, but in his case meant Alzheimer's…a story well told in the Los Angeles Times). Gilbert was brilliantly eulogized in Andrew Sullivan's irreplaceable blog, and in passing Sullivan mentioned the name of his poetry editor Alice Quinn, formerly of The NewContinue reading “The only ones who know spring is coming: Jack Gilbert”
Kit Stolz 