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Two comets are coming! "2013 could be the year of the great comets."

December 28, 2012 - 7:51am — Bill

They say another bright comet could be coming in 2013,

Remarkably Ison might not be the only spectacular comet visible next year. Another comet, called 2014 L4 (PanSTARRS), was discovered last year and in March and April it could also be a magnificent object in the evening sky

Then Comet Ison, the Holiday Comet of 2013, gets bright in november and december and may be visible for months. You know, I really hope we get together a sample-return mission - send a robot to the comet to collect samples, then send another ship to follow to bring them back. (Break it up into two missions so you have extra time to prepare).

This was an excellent article - worth the click. Read more »

Pennsylvania Youth Files Climate Change Lawsuit

December 20, 2012 - 7:06pm — voicesweb

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

 

 

December 20, 2012

For inquiries or interview requests, please contact:

Kenneth Kristl, 302-477-2053, ktkristl@widener.edu

Julia Olson, 415-786-4825, julia@ourchildrenstrust.org

 

Pennsylvania Youth Files Climate Change Lawsuit

Making Sixteen Public Trust Cases to Protect the Atmosphere

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania – Ashley Funk, an 18-year-old from Mount Pleasant, filed a lawsuit today in the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania against the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) on the issue of whether the DEP has a constitutional obligation to protect the atmosphere and other natural resources, even if the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has not acted to regulate carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.

Ashley’s is the newest Atmospheric Trust Litigation (ATL) case to be filed in the United States, making it the 14th case in the United States along with two international suits and dozens of administrative actions in every other state in the country, all on behalf of youth pleading for their rights.

Read more »

Over the next 3 days - Dec. 20-22 - an unprecedented wave of LOVE AND KINDNESS will traverse the entire planet.

December 19, 2012 - 7:11pm — Around Town

Dearest Friends & Fellow Earthlings,

I have some wonderful news to share. Over the next 3 days - Dec. 20-22 - an unprecedented wave of LOVE AND KINDNESS will traverse the entire planet. How do I know this? Because I am one of the 17,248 signatories who have already pledged — as I send this message — to make it so.

Read more »

Why are males (child-men, calling them 'men' causes nausea and the risk of projectile vomiting) such idiots?

December 15, 2012 - 1:19am — Bill

As someone with a lot of experience on the net, I am often appalled by male posters, whose immaturity is only exceded by the utterly predictable and copied stupidity of their opinions.

Males do not become men in our society - they fail utterly, forever trapped in some kind of whining and pathetic emotionally stunted monster-adolescent stage. No pride, no honor, no manhood.

And they wonder why women despise them...

 

Laurie Penny: A woman's opinion is the mini-skirt of the internet

For criticising neo-liberal economic policymaking, it was suggested I should be made to fellate a row of bankers

 

"You come to expect it, as a woman writer, particularly if you're political. You come to expect the vitriol, the insults, the death threats. After a while, the emails and tweets and comments containing graphic fantasies of how and where and with what kitchen implements certain pseudonymous people would like to rape you cease to be shocking, and become merely a daily or weekly annoyance, something to phone your girlfriends about, seeking safety in hollow laughter.

Read more »

Honesty - a free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular - Adlai Stevenson

December 14, 2012 - 10:07am — Bill

 

How to Be Honest Without Being Harsh

  1. Focus on how you present your honest assessment of any situation. This is the most important part of reducing any sense of harshness––the how of delivery matters. Begin from a position of kindness, of acceptance that it is better to be tactfully honest than to let someone go on believing something that isn't true. Be prepared to stick to the objective, identifiable facts and avoid making emotional observations. Act from the goodness of exposing a problem in need of a solution. And be aware that this is a communication skill––as with all skills, it will take time and practice to perfect, with a good dose of humility thrown in.
    • Consider the person with whom you must be honest. Don't be brash or too pointed where the person is usually shy or very sensitive. Take into account their nature when adapting your message. There will be a different approach between telling your best friend something delicate and motivating a slack co-worker with whom you're trying to complete a project.
       
    • If you need to rehearse, do so! It is much better to have gone over what you're going to say to iron out any insensitive or thoughtless comments that might crop up through nervousness or an over-willingness to "set things right". It won't make you sound forced; practice will actually help you to work through whether this is the right thing to do, and which words are the right ones to use.

Will there really be a "Saudi America"? What is the real prospect of US energy "independence?"

December 11, 2012 - 8:16pm — Transition Town...

What is the real prospect of US energy "independence?"

 

It is becoming more unsettling clear that there are consequences to how we

navigate our energy future.

 

These consequences are not only environmental.  There are also consequences

related to the future stability of the US and world societies.

 

The article attached is a response to the recent International Energy

Agency's proposal that the US could become energy independence in just a

few years.  It has as its objective encouraging the creation of a real and

viable energy future for the US.  This article explores some of the

questions we should ask about developing fossil fuels, addresses the issue

of climate change and speaks to a framework to a more sustainable future.

 
 
 
 

Merry Christmas from the Bosses

December 11, 2012 - 8:04pm — Farce Magazine

Paul Krugman and the Issac Asimov "Foundation" novels - a story of youth and inspiration

December 11, 2012 - 3:42am — Bill

Paul Krugman talks about how the Issac Asimoc Foundation novels influenced him in his youth, and why that led him to economics. 

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/dec/04/paul-krugman-asimov-economics

 

Yet if the Foundation books are a tale of prophecy fulfilled, it's a very bourgeois version of prophecy. This is no tale of the secret heir coming into his heritage, of the invincible swordsman winning the day with his prowess. Asimov clearly despises both aristocracy and militarism; his heroes, such as they are, are unpretentious and a bit uncouth, with nothing martial about them. "Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent," declares Mayor Salvor Hardin.

 

But wait: Foundation isn't about the triumph of the middle class, either. We never get to see the promised Second Empire, which may be just as well, because it probably wouldn't be very likeable. Clearly, it's not going to be a democracy – it's going to be a mathematicized version of Plato's Republic, in which the Guardians derive their virtue from the axioms of psychohistory. What this means for the books is that while a relatively bourgeois society may be the winner in each of the duels, Asimov is neither endorsing that society nor giving it a special long-run destiny. What this means for the storytelling is that the struggles don't have to be and aren't structured as a conventional tale of good guys versus villains, and the novels have that unexpected cynicism. The Foundation may start out a lot nicer than its barbarous neighbours, but it evolves over time into a corrupt oligarchy – and that's all part of the plan. And because the story arc is about the fulfilment of the Seldon Plan, not the triumph of the men in white hats, Asimov is also free to make some of his villains not especially villainous. Read more »