| |
 |
Monday, August 02, 2004 |
Climate Change Impacts
If this article from the Independent (via Grist) is really right in its reporting, and scientists do convincingly link a Scottish seabird wipeout catastrophe to climate change's impact on ocean temperatures, it's going to attract a lot of attention. Here's the gist:
In what could be a sub-plot from the recent disaster movie, The Day After Tomorrow, a rise in sea temperature is believed to have led to the mysterious disappearance of a key part of the marine food chain - the sandeel, the small fish whose great teeming shoals have hitherto sustained larger fish, marine mammals and seabirds in their millions.
...the astonishing scale of what has taken place is already clear - and the link to climate change is being openly made by scientists. It is believed that the microscopic plankton on which tiny sandeel larvae feed are moving northwards as the sea water warms, leaving the baby fish with nothing to feed on....
Granted, the U.S. media will probably take a pass on this story. But it certainly seems possible that a similar wildlife disaster will soon arise in the U.S. that can be clearly linked to climate change. I might just be ignorant, but I'm unaware of any comparable cases at this point..... [Chris C. Mooney | The Intersection]
8:33:07 PM Permalink
|
|
Panic In the Skies, Part 2
PANIC IN THE SKIES, PART 2....Security guru Bruce Schneier writes today about yet another fateful encounter in the air:Ninety minutes after taking off from Sydney Airport, a flight attendant on a United Airlines flight bound for Los Angeles found an... [Political Animal]
1:07:45 PM Permalink
|
|
Rushkoff's Got a Way with Words
Rushkoff on voting against George Bush:
And I believe it is okay to vote purely to rid the nation and the world of a dangerous, misguided, deluded sociopath and the rapacious clique who control him - while there's still enough integrity in the voting system to exercise such authority over the executive branch. This may be our last chance to use our blogs and our voices towards such a purpose.
10:02:17 AM Permalink
|
|
Manchurian Candidates
I saw both versions of The Manchurian Candidate in the last week. Each has its strengths and weaknesses. The acting in both versions is fantastic. The earlier screenplay is better, since it's a bit less wishy-washy on the politics. The newer one is a bit truer psychologically, it felt more real. But the brainwashing scenes of the earlier version were more harrowing, if a little less real feeling because they were more surreal. I highly recommend the Sinatra version, and recommend the new one.
In between the two, I saw the new DVD version of Blazing Saddles, one of my favorite movies of all time. I hadn't seen it in more than 10 years, and remembered nearly every line in the movie. It didn't matter: nearly every line in the movie gave me a big laugh. I need to watch it with Mel Brooks' commentary next.
9:37:54 AM Permalink
|
|
911: The Evacuation of the WTC Went Amazingly Well
From the 911 Commission Report. It appears that the evacuation of the WTC went amazingly well:
The National Institute of Standards and Technology has provided a preliminary estimation that between 16,400 and 18,800 civilians were in the WTC complex as of 8:46 AM on September 11. At most 2,152 individuals died at the WTC complex who were not (1) fire or police first responders, (2) security or fire safety personnel of the WTC or individual companies, (3) volunteer civilians who ran to the WTC after the planes' impact to help others, or (4) on the two planes that crashed into the Twin Towers.... Of this number... 94.64 percent either worked or were supposed to attend a meeting at or above the respective impact zones.... These data strongly suggest that the evacuation was a success for civilians below the impact zone.
Something for the Port Authority, the FDNY, the PAPD, and the NYPD to be very proud of. [Brad DeLong's Semi-Daily Journal (2004)]
9:06:50 AM Permalink
|
|
Sony Bicycle Radio
Very slick: $60 here when it becomes available on August 22.
Mounts securely and removable without tools, for use away from the bike.
Includes a backlit LCD for night riding, digital clock, speedometer, and trip odometer.
Measures trip and total distance, speed (current, maximum, or average), and elapsed time, showing speeds and distances in miles or kilometers.
Weather-resistant, runs on 2 AA batteries for about 65 hours of FM listening.
15 presets (10 FM/5 AM)
Thumb-controlled jog lever station selector
Weighs 10 ounces.
Sleep mode automatically shuts it off to conserve battery life. [bookofjoe]
8:31:44 AM Permalink
|
|
© Copyright 2004 Steve Michel.
|
|
|
|
|
